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CARPENTER'S  NEW  GEOGRAPHICAL  READER 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


BY 
FRANK  G.  CARPENTER,  Litt.D.,  F.R.G.S. 

AUTHOR    OF 

«<  AROUND    THE    WORLD    WITH    THE    CHILDREN"    AND 

"READERS    ON    COMMERCE    AND    INDUSTRY" 


AMERICAN    BOOK   COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  CHICAGO 

BOSTON  ATLANTA 


694G9 


BOOKS  BY 
FRANK   G.   CARPENTER 


"Reading  Carpenter  Is  Seeing  the  World" 

UntroDuction  to  ©cograpbs 

AROUND  THE  WORLD  WITH   THE  CHILDREN 

©cograpblcal  IReaDers 

NORTH  AMERICA 

SOUTH  AMERICA 

EUROPE 

ASIA 

AFRICA 

AUSTRALIA  AND  ISLANDS  OF  THE  SEA 

IRca&ers  on  Commerce  anJ)  Hn&ustri? 

HOW  THE  WORLD  IS  FED 
HOW  THE  WORLD  IS  CLOTHED 
HOW  THE  WORLD  IS  HOUSED 


Copyright,  1899,  1912,  1915,  1921,  by 

FRANK  G.  CARPENTER 

E.  p,    3 


1- 

o  o   ' 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  a  revised  edition  of  Carpenter's  Geographical 
Reader,  "South  America,"  which  for  many  years  has  been 
widely  used  in  our  schools.  It  is  more  than  a  revision, 
however,  for  it  is  a  new  work  based  upon  up-to-date  in- 
formation gathered  by  the  author  during  a  recent  tour  of 
more  than  twenty-five  thousand  miles  made  by  him  in  the 
countries  described. 

During  this  tour  Mr.  Carpenter  has  kept  the  children 
always  in  mind,  and  his  story  of  their  travels  will,  it  is 
beheved,  bring  them  into  a  close  personal  relation  with 
their  brothers  and  sisters  of  South  America.  It  will  give 
them  also  a  live  working  knowledge  of  the  geography,  re- 
sources, and  people  of  each  of  the  republics,  and  of  the 
social,  industrial,  and  commercial  relations  which  each 
holds  to  the  United  States. 

The  plan  is  the  same  as  that  adopted  in  all  the  books  of 
this  series.  It  consists  of  imaginary  travels  made  by  the 
children  with  the  author  in  the  countries  described.  In 
this  volume  the  children  start  out  on  a  voyage  from  New 
York  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  from  there  move  about 
leisurely  from  one  South  American  country  to  another, 
making  their  observations  and  studies  along  the  lines  above 
mentioned.  It  is  the  children  who  do  the  traveling,  and 
the  book  is  the  story  of  what  they  see  and  learn. 

Here  and  there  throughout  the  story  the  author  has  in- 
serted questions  which  suggest  interesting  research  work 
for  the  children.     These  will,  it  is  beheved,  add  greatly  to 

7 


8  PREFACE 

the  value  of  the  book.  In  connection  with  this  feature, 
tables  and  diagrams  of  statistical  information  will  be 
found  at  the  back,  and  maps  have  been  freely  introduced 
throughout  the  text.  The  pictures  also  will  furnish  ma- 
terial for  study.  Most  of  them  are  new,  and  many 
are  from  photographs  taken  by  the  author  to  illustrate 
this  book. 

In  order  to  bring  out  the  world  relations  of  South  Amer- 
ica, frequent  comparisons  with  the  United  States  and 
other  countries  and  people  of  the  world  should  be  made 
by  the  children.  For  this  purpose,  reference  to  the  other 
volumes  of  the  Carpenter  Readers  will  prove  valuable.  For 
example,  in  connection  with  the  diamond  mines  of  Brazil, 
the  interest  and  information  of  the  child  will  be  increased 
by  comparing  them  with  the  diamond  mines  of  Kimberley 
in  Carpenter's  "Africa,"  by  reading  of  the  diamond  indus- 
try in  Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is  Clothed,"  and  by  a 
visit  to  the  diamond  cutting  estabhshments  of  Amsterdam, 
in  Carpenter's  "Europe."  In  the  same  way,  the  world 
study  of  cotton,  coffee,  rubber,  wool,  meat,  and  almost 
every  other  product  of  South  America  may  be  developed. 

The  two  series  of  books  referred  to  in  this  connection 
comprise  Carpenter's  Geographical  Readers  on  North  Amer- 
ica, South  America,  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  Australia, 
and  his  Industrial  Readers  entitled:  "How  the  World  is 
Clothed,"  "How  the  World  is  Fed,"  and  "How  the  World 
is  Housed." 


CONTENTS 


I.  Introduction 

II.  From  New  York  to  Panama 

III.  Panama  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  . 

IV.  We  Steam  through  the  Canal    . 
V.  The  Republic  of  Colombia  . 

VI.  Up  the  Magdalena  to  Bogota     . 

VII.  Emeralds  and  Platinum 

VIII.  A  Land  of  the  Equator 

IX.  Climbing  the  Andes  to  Quito 

X.  In  the  Great  South  American  Desert 

XI.  In  Lima,  the  Capital  of  Peru     . 

XII.  Up  the  Andes 

XIII.  On  the  Roof  of  South  America 

XIV.  Steamboating  above  the  Clouds 
XV.  Travels  in  Bolivia        .... 

XVI.  The  Mineral  Wealth  of  the  Andes  . 

XVII.  Chile  —  The  Nitrate  Desert  and  the  G 

Islands 

XVIII.  Along  the  Coast  to  Valparaiso 

XIX.  Across  South  America  by  Rail   . 

•    XX.  Santiago,  the  Capital  of  Chile 

XXI.  A  Visit  to  a  Chilean  Farm 

XXII.  Southern  Chile  and  the  Araucantans 

XXIII.  In  the  Coal  Mines  of  Chile 

XXIV.  In  and  about  the  Strait  of  Magellan 

9 


uano 


lO 


CONTENTS 


XXV.  At  the  End  of  the  Continent 

XXVI.  Argentina  —  Patagonia     .... 

XXVII.  In  Argentina  —  Life  on  the  Pampas 

XXVIII.  The  Bread  Lands  of  South  America 

XXIX.  Buenos  Aires 

XXX.  Uruguay  —  Montevideo     .... 

XXXI.  Up  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  System 

XXXII.  The  Gran  Chaco 

XXXIII.  Paraguay     ....... 

XXXIV.  A  Trip  into  the  Interior  op  Paraguay 
XXXV.  Mate,  or  Paraguay  Tea   .... 

XXXVI.  Brazil 

XXXVII.  The  Wilds  of  Matto  Grosso   . 

XXXVIII.  The  Niagara  of  South  America  —  Southern 

Brazil 

XXXIX.  Santos  and  Sao  Paulo       .        .        . 

XL.  In  the  Land  of  Coffee     .... 

XLI.  A  City  of  Snakes  —  Some  Wild  Animals  of 

Brazil 

XLII.  Rio  de  Janeiro 

XLIII.  More  about  Rio 

XLIV.  Bahl^ 

XLV.  The  Mines  of  Brazil  —  Diamonds,  Iron,  and 

Gold 

XLVI.  Along  the  Coast  of  Brazil 

XLVII.  The  King  of  Rivers 

XL VIII.  Para,  the  Metropolis  of  the  Amazon    . 

XLIX.  In  the  Land  of  Rubber    .... 

L.  A  Trip  on  the  Amazon  River  . 

LI.  Some  Wild  Indians  of  Brazil  . 


CONTENTS 


II 


PAGE 

LII.    The  Orinoco  and  the  Llanos 365 

LIII.     Venezuela  and  Its  Capital 370 

LIV.     La  Guaira  and  Caracas 373 

LV.    The  Guianas 379 

Tables 390 

Index 397 


LIST  OF  MAPS 

South  America  (colored  map) 

South  America  (black  relief  map) 

New  York  to  Panama  (route  map) 

Canal  Zone  (black  relief  map) 

Colombia  (route  map) 

Ecuador  (route  map) 

Peru  (route  rl^p)    . 

Bolivia  (route  map) 

Chile  (route  map)  . 

Argentina  (route  map) 

Uruguay  (route  map) 

Paraguay  (route  map) 

Brazil  (route  map) 

Venezuela  (route  map) 

The  Guianas  (route  map) 


2,7 
18 
21 
29 
40 
57 
77 

117 

137 
195 
232 

255 
279 

371 

3S1 


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Facsimile  of  passport  issued  by  the  Department  of  State  to  Mr. 
Carpenter.     This  passport  admitted  the  author  to  South  American 
countries  to  gather  the  material  for  this  book. 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


I.  INTRODUCTION 

WE  shall  start  on  our  journey  to  South  America  from 
the  city  of  Washington.  We  have  come  by  train 
from  our  homes  to  the  national  capital,  have  called  upon 
the  President  at  the  White  House,  and  after  taking  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  have  arranged  with  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  our  passports.  Each  passport  bears 
a  photograph  of  its  owner,  his  signature,  and  a  description 
showing  just  how  he  looks.  It  tells  how  tall  he  is,  the  color 
of  his  eyes,  hair,  and  face,  describes  his  nose,  chin,  and 
mouth,  and  tells  just  how  old  he  was  when  the  passport 
was  issued.  It  is  signed  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  it 
requests  all  people  to  permit  the  bearer  to  pass  safely  and 
freely  and  to  give  him  all  lawful  aid  and  protection.  We 
shall  need  these  passports  to  prove  we  are  Americans,  so 
that  we  can  claim  the  rights  our  citizens  have  all  over  the 
world. 

Leaving  the  State  Department,  we  walk  through  the 
beautiful  park  at  the  south  to  the  marble  palace  of  the  Pan 
American  Union,  which  has  to  do  with  the  sister  republics 
of  North  and  South  America.  Its  aim  is  to  increase  the 
friendly  relations  between  the  peoples  of  the  two  continents 
and  to  further  everything  connected  with  their  commerce 
and  trade.     Each  of  the  repubhcs  has  its  own  representative 

13 


14 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


at  Washington,  and  here  wc  can  learn  many  things  we  ought 
to  know  before  starting  out. 

Now  we  have  entered  the  building,  have  passed  through 
the  great  marble  court  roofed  with  glass,  where  palm  trees 
and  other  tropical  plants  are  growing,  and  are  standing 
in  the  rear  of  the  hall,  on  the  floor  of  which  is  one  of  the 


Building  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  a  society  organized  to  pro- 
mote acquaintance  and  friendly  relations  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Latin  Republics  of  America. 


largest  relief  maps  in  the  world.  This  map  represents 
South  America  as  it  might  look  to  one  if  he  stood  upon 
the  moon  and  had  a  telescope  so  powerful  that  he  could  see 
the  whole  continent  at  one  glance.  The  map  would  more 
than  cover  the  floor  of  the  largest  schoolroom,  and  it  shows 
the  mountains  and  plains  and  the  rivers  and  lakes  of  our 
great  sister  continent. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

But  first  let  us  see  just  where  South  America  lies  on  the 
earth.  We  go  to  the  globe  and  run  our  fingers  around  it 
along  the  equator.  We  see  that  the  most  of  South  America 
lies  south  of  that  line  and  that  much  of  it  is  in  the  southern 
hemisphere.  In  that  respect  it  is  like  Africa,  although  it 
extends  much  farther  south  than  either  Australia  or  Africa. 
It  comes  nearest  the  South  Pole  of  all  the  inhabited  conti- 
nents. 

Dividing  the  globe  again  into  halves,  and  this  time  at 
right  angles  with  the  equator,  we  observe  that  South 
America  lies  in  the  western  hemisphere.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
new  world  that  Columbus  discovered  when  he  started 
westward  from  Europe  looking  for  a  shorter  way  to  India. 
He  landed  on  the  West  India  Islands  in  1492,  and  it  was 
not  until  six  years  later  that  he  coasted  the  mainland  of 
South  America  near  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  River.  He 
traveled  along  the  northern  shores  of  South  America  again 
in  1502,  and  before  that  time  Pinzon  had  entered  the  mouth 
of  the  Amazon,  and  Americus  Vespucius  had  gone  along 
the  east  coast  of  South  America  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata.  In  the  meantime,  John  Cabot  and  others 
had  discovered  parts  of  North  America. 

As  we  look  at  North  and  South  America  on  the  globe 
we  see  that  South  America  lies  far  to  the  east  of  North 
America.  Indeed,  their  positions  are  such  that  if  we  should 
take  an  airplane  here  at  Washington  and  fly  straight 
'southward  we  would  strike  South  America  a  little  east 
of  the  Panama  Canal,  and  if  we  flew  on  south,  passing 
through  Colombia,  Ecuador,  and  Peru,  we  would  soon 
find  ourselves  out  over  the  Pacific  Ocean  with  a  large 
part  of  the  continent  stretching  away  to  the  eastward. 
Much  of  the  Pacific  coast  of  South  America  is  farther  east 
than  Philadelphia  or  New  York. 


i6  SOUTH  AMERICA 

By  looking  at  the  globe  we  can  compare  the  continents 
and  get  some  idea  of  the  enormous  country  we  are  about 
to  explore.  South  America  contains  about  one  eighth  of 
all  the  land  on  earth.  If  we  should  divide  all  the  land 
on  the  globe  into  eighty-acre  farms,  ten  acres  in  each 
farm  would  belong  to  South  America.  The  continent  is 
smaller  than  Asia,  Africa,  or  North  America,  but  it  is 
larger  than  all  Europe  with  the  main  body  of  the  United 
States  added  thereto. 

Moreover,  it  has  no  great  deserts  Hke  Africa  or  Asia, 
and  no  vast  wastes  such  as  the  northern  part  of  North 
America,  which  is  locked  in  cold  and  darkness  for  most  of 
the  year.  Except  on  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Andes, 
South  America  has  no  region  of  perpetual  ice,  and  even 
at  the  far  south  about  the  Strait  of  Magellan  the  land  is 
so  tempered  by  the  winds  from  the  ocean  that  the  sheep 
feed  out  of  doors  all  the  year  round.  It  is  true  that  three 
fourths  of  the  continent  is  in  the  torrid  zone,  but  much  of 
the  land  near  the  equator  is  so  high  above  the  level  of  the 
sea  that  the  climate  is  as  temperate  as  in  many  parts  of 
our  country. 

The  fact  that  most  of  the  continent  lies  south  of  the 
equator  makes  the  seasons  there  directly  the  opposite  of 
ours.  It  is  now  winter  here  in  Washington,  but  as  soon 
as  we  go  south  of  the  equator  we  shall  be  in  the  summer, 
and  if  we  continue  our  journey  until  fall  it  will  be  while 
our  friends  at  home  are  having  their  spring.  We  shall 
see  also  that  at  high  noon  our  shadows  fall  to  the  south. 
Can  you  tell  why? 

Leaving  the  globe,  we  stroll  about  the  rehef  map  as  it 
lies  on  the  floor,  observing  how  like  South  America  is  to 
our  own  continent  of  North  America  in  shape  and  surface. 
Each  continent  is  roughly  triangular.     Each  has  a  long 


INTRODUCTION  1 7 

system  of  highlands  running  along  the  Pacific  coast  and 
another  range  of  lower  highlands  near  the  east  coast,  with  a 
wide  plain  or  central  lowland  between  them.  The  Andes 
corresponds  to  our  great  western  highlands,  and  the  high- 
lands of  Guiana  (ge-a'na)  and  eastern  Brazil  are  somewhat 
like  our  Appalachian  Mountains.  The  eastern  highlands  of 
North  America  are  broken  by  a  great  river,  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  those  of  South  America  by  another  great  river,  the 
Amazon.  The  Amazon  basin  compares  somewhat  with 
that  of  the  Great  Lakes  in  situation.  Both  slope  to  the 
east  and  break  through  highlands.  The  Rio  de  la  Plata 
(re'o  da  la  pla'ta)  basin  is  not  unlike  the  Mississippi  valley. 

The  natural  features  of  South  America  are  grander  than 
those  of  North  America.  The  Andes  are  higher  than  the 
Rockies  and  they  have  a  score  of  volcanoes,  each  of  which 
is  more  than  a  mile  higher  than  the  top  of  Pikes  Peak. 
Mount  Aconcagua  (a-kon-ka'gwa)  is  more  than  a  half  mile 
higher  than  Mount  McKinley,  the  highest  point  on  the 
North  American  continent. 

The  earth  has  no  river  system  that  compares  in  size 
with  the  Amazon,  whose  naxigable  tributaries,  if  joined 
together,  would  reach  around  the  globe.  On  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata  we  can  go  north  by  steamers  for  a  greater 
distance  than  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Hudson  Bay, 
and  the  Amazon,  Orinoco,  and  La  Plata  systems,  taken 
together,  drain  more  country  than  the  whole  of  the  United 
States,  including  Alaska.  Indeed,  most  of  South  America 
is  a  well-watered  country,  and  much  of  it  has  the  cUmate 
and  soil  which  will  some  day  make  it  the  home  of  a  large 
part  of  the  world's  population. 

During  our  stay  at  the  Pan  American  Union  we  learn 
much  about  the  resources  of  South  America  and  how 
closely  its  people  are  connected  wdth  us  in  industry  and 


^plBB^AN    SEA 


ooo  miles 


i8 


South  America.    Reliet  and  drainage. 


INTRODUCTION  19 

trade.  Many  of  our  farmers  use  the  nitrates  from  the 
South  American  desert  to  fertilize  their  crops.  Our  finest 
rubber  comes  from  the  wild  trees  of  the  Amazon  basin, 
and  almost  all  the  coffee  we  drink  is  grown  in  Brazil. 
The  most  of  our  chocolate  comes  from  the  cacao  trees  of 
Brazil,  Venezuela,  Colombia,  and  Ecuador.  Some  of  us  may 
have  a  product  of  Argentina  under  our  feet,  for  it  is  from 
that  region  that  come  many  of  the  hides  from  which  our 
leather  is  made.  We  import  wool  and  meat  from  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata  basin.  We  get  some  of  our  tin  from  Bolivia, 
and  considerable  copper  from  Peru  and  Chile.  We  have 
diamonds  from  Brazil  and  emeralds  from  Colombia.  In- 
deed, there  is  hardly  a  state  of  South  America  that  does 
not  supply  us  with  materials  of  one  kind  or  another,  and 
we  shall  learn  that  the  South  Americans  are  using  more 
and  more  of  the  things  we  raise  and  the  manufactures  we 
make  for  export  to  other  nations. 

But  what  kind  of  people  are  these  among  whom  we  are 
going  to  travel?  We  can  see  something  of  them  in  the 
photographs  of  the  various  countries  and  cities  in  the 
library  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  Most  of  the  South 
Americans  are  of  the  white  race  and  they  dress  much 
as  we  do.  There  are  also  some  negroes  in  Brazil,  and 
many  Indians  in  their  different  stages  of  savagery'  and 
civilization  scattered  over  the  continent.  The  Indians 
are  the  descendants  of  those  who  inhabited  South  America 
at  the  time  Columbus  first  set  foot  on  the  northern  shores 
of  the  continent.  The  negroes  were  brought  from  Africa 
as  slaves,  but  they  were  afterwards  freed  and  now  have 
the  same  rights  as  the  whites.  The  white  population  is 
composed  of  the  descendants  of  the  Spaniards  and  Portu- 
guese who  conquered  the  Indians  and  of  those  who  inter- 
married with  the  Indians,  forming  a  new  race,  as  it  were. 


20  SOUTH  AMERICA 

During  our  travels  we  shall  find  that  the  South  Ameri- 
cans have  a  civaUzation  and  customs  similar  to  ours. 
They  have  farms  and  factories  and  all  sorts  of  industries. 
They  have  many  magnificent  cities  with  the  latest  of  modern 
improvements,  including  schools  much  like  our  own.  They 
are  building  railways  and  beginning  to  develop  their 
enormous  resources.  Most  of  the  republics  have  govern- 
ments like  ours,  and  nearly  all  of  them  are  growing  in 
population,  industry,  and  wealth.  But  we  shall  see  all 
this  better  as  we  go  on  with  our  travels. 

1.  Why  do  we  need  passports?  Why  must  we  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance?  Why  are  our  photographs  and  signatures  needed? 
Make  out  a  passport  for  yourself.     (See  illustration.) 

2.  What  is  the  Pan  American  Union? 

3.  Locate  South  America  on  the  globe  —  as  to  oceans  —  as  to 
continents.  Describe  its  surface  from  the  relief  map.  Compare  with 
North  America.  What  highlands  in  South  America  remind  us  of 
the  Rockies?  Of  the  Appalachians?  What  great  river  have  we 
that  compares  with  the  Amazon? 

4.  How  large  is  South  America  ?  Compare  it  in  size  with  North 
America ;  Europe ;  Asia ;  the  United  States.  How  many  coun- 
tries has  it  ?  Which  is  the  largest  ?  The  smallest  ?  Which  ones 
are  north  of  the  equator?  South?  Compare  each  country  with 
an  American  state.  Compare  the  population  of  South  America 
with  that  of  the  United  States.      (See  Tables  III  and  V.) 

5.  What  climates  has  South  America?  In  what  zone  does  most 
of  it  lie?  When  we  are  having  winter  at  home  what  is  the  season 
in  South  America  south  of  the  equator?  Why?  Why  is  it  not  cold 
in  the  southernmost  part  of  the  continent? 

6.  In  what  latitude  do  you  live?  Take  an  airplane  trip  directly 
south  and  find  if  you  could  reach  South  America.  If  so,  what  part 
of  the  continent  ? 

7.  What  do  we  buy  of  South  America?  Mention  some  South 
American  products  we  use  almost  every  day. 

8.  What  three  races  of  people  live  in  South  America  ?  What  race 
was  there  when  Columbus  first  landed  ?  From  where  did  the  whites 
and  negroes  come  ? 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  PANAMA 


21 


II.   FROM   NEW   YORK   TO   PANAMA 

WE  have  left  Washington,  have  come  to  New  York, 
and  are  now  on  a  great  white  steamer  bound  for 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  The  ship  has  already  finished 
loading  its  cargo,  and  we  make  our  way  in  and  out  among 


GALAPAGOS  IS, 


the  men  who  are  wheeling  on  board  the  bags  containing 
the  South  American  mails. 

A  moment  later  the  bugle  blows  to  notify  all  who  are 
not  going  with  us  to  leave.     There  are  farewell  kisses  and 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  PANAMA  23 

hurried  good-bys.  The  engines  throb,  and  as  we  wave 
our  handkerchiefs  to  our  friends  on  the  wharf,  our  boat 
moves  slowly  out  into  the  East  River  and  past  the 
statue  of  Liberty,  through  the  harbor  of  New  York. 
Within  a  short  time  the  city  has  passed  out  of  view,  and 
as  evening  falls  we  stand  at  the  stern  of  the  steamer  and 
watch  the  lights  of  Sandy  Hook  fade  away  into  the  dark- 
ness, realizing  that  we  shall  not  see  our  native  land  for 
many  months  to  come. 

It  is  about  two  thousand  miles  from  New  York  to 
Cristobal  (kris-to-bal')  at  the  mouth  of  the  Panama  Canal, 
but  our  ship  does  not  go  so  fast  as  the  big  steamers  which 
cross  the  Atlantic  to  Europe,  and  it  will  take  almost  sLx  days 
for  our  voyage.  It  is  now  winter.  There  was  snow  on  the 
streets  of  New  York  when  we  left,  and  we  have  on  our 
heaviest  clothing.  The  first  day  out  is  cold  and  bracing, 
and  we  spend  the  time  in  learning  our  steamer.  It  is  a 
steel  vessel,  five  hundred  feet  long  and  sixty  feet  wide,  and 
it  has  a  speed  of  about  fifteen  knots  an  hour. 

Our  cabins  are  on  the  top  deck,  and  we  can  look  out  of 
our  windows  when  we  wake  in  the  morning  and  see  the 
blue  ocean  rising  and  falling  under  our  eyes.  There  are 
many  whitecaps  on  the  waves  and  the  billows  seem  to  be 
chasing  one  another  over  the  sea.  Each  cabin  is  about 
the  size  of  the  smallest  hall  bedroom.  It  has  two  berths, 
one  over  the  other,  on  the  wall  at  the  back,  and  opposite 
them  are  two  windows  which  look  out  on  the  sea.  We 
have  room  under  the  berths  for  our  low  steamer  trunks, 
and  at  the  end  opposite  the  door  is  a  washstand  set  into 
the  wall  with  pockets  for  our  combs,  brushes,  and  other 
toilet  articles.  We  have  hot  and  cold  water  at  all  hours 
of  the  day.  The  cabin  has  an  electric  light,  and  also  an 
electric  fan  which  we  can  set  whizzing  by  pressing  a  button. 


24  SOUTH  AMERICA 

We  shall  need  that  fan  for  it  will  be  warm  when  we  ap- 
proach the  equator. 

Our  ship  is  a  United  States  vessel  and  flies  the  American 
flag.  The  sailors  are  from  different  parts  of  New  England 
and  our  captain  is  a  Yankee  from  Maine.  At  high  noon 
every  day  he  makes  an  observation,  telling  by  the  sun 
just  where  we  are,  and  a  little  later  we  all  rush  to  the 
cabin  to  learn  how  many  miles  we  have  gone  in  the  past 
twenty-four  hours. 

Our  first  course  is  almost  straight  south.  We  are  soon 
opposite  Atlantic  City,  and  from  there  we  go  on,  passing 
Cape  May,  Cape  Charles,  and  Cape  Henry,  but  out  of 
sight  of  them.  It  is  on  the  second  day  that  we  reach 
Cape  Hatteras  and  start  across  the  Gulf  Stream,  that 
mighty  river  in  the  Atlantic  which  is  three  thousand  times 
as  great  as  the  Mississippi  in  volume.  There  are  patches 
of  gulf  weed  floating  about  in  it.  Some  of  them  look  like 
green  sponges  upon  the  blue  water  and  some  like  shawls 
of  green  lacework  spread  over  the  sea. 

The  air  has  now  grown  warm  and  moist.  We  have  a 
sailor  dip  up  some  of  the  water  and  find  it  warmer  than 
that  in  which  we  have  been  sailing,  and  when  we  take  our 
baths  in  the  morning  they  are  as  warm  as  our  swimming 
pools  in  midsummer  at  home.  We  travel  more  than  a 
hundred  miles  in  crossing  the  Gulf  Stream,  observing  that 
the  air  is  cooler  as  we  pass  out  of  it  on  the  edge  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea. 

But  why  do  we  not  keep  in  the  stream  and  be  warm  all 
the  way?  You  will  easily  see  when  you  remember  how 
hard  it  is  to  row  a  boat  against  a  strong  current.  The 
Gulf  Stream  flows  north  at  the  rate  of  three  miles  an  hour, 
and  we  are  going  as  fast  as  we  can  to  the  south.  If  we 
should  keep  in  the  Stream,  we  should  have  to  steam  against 


FROM  NEW  YORK  TO  PANAMA  25 

this  three-mile  current  and  would  lose  at  least  three  miles 
an  hour. 

But  what  is  that  away  off  to  our  right?  It  seems  little 
more  than  a  blue  speck  in  the  distance.  That  is  San 
Salvador  (san  sal-va-dor'),  one  of  the  most  famous  islands  of 
the  world.  It  is  the  first  land  that  Columbus  saw  when  he 
discovered  America.  When  he  first  stood  upon  San 
Salvador  he  thought  it  an  island  off  the  east  coast  of  Asia 
and  did  not  realize  that  he  had  found  a  new  world.  We 
can  see  the  lighthouse  on  the  island  plainly  as  we  go  by. 
There  are  palm  trees  near  it,  and  if  we  could  stop  we  should 
find  the  vegetation  much  like  that  of  Florida.  San 
Salvador  is  one  of  the  Bahama  Islands.  It  produces 
fruits,  grains,  and  roots  in  abundance,  and  it  is  as  rich 
now  as  when  Columbus  came  there  and  saw  the  first 
Indians  ever  met  by  white  men. 

A  little  farther  south  we  pass  Bird  Rock,  another  of  the 
Bahamas,  and  still  farther  south  the  coast  of  eastern 
Cuba  comes  into  view,  with  the  purple  mountains  of  Haiti 
in  plain  sight  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  ship.  We  sail 
between  these  two  islands  for  hours.  We  pass  our  naval 
station  of  Guantanamo  (gwan-tan'a-mo),  near  Santiago 
(san-te-a'go)  in  Cuba,  where  our  war  vessels  guard  this 
passage  on  the  way  to  the  canal,  and  then  go  out  over 
the  blue  waters  of  the  Caribbean. 

The  sea  is  now  like  glass.  The  sun  is  quite  hot  at  noon, 
but  during  the  rest  of  the  day  the  air  is  soft,  warm,  and 
pleasant.  It  is  much  like  a  June  day  in  Ohio  or  Virginia. 
We  put  on  our  thin  linen  clothes  and  enjoy  the  tropical 
seas.  After  leaving  Cuba  we  sail  for  two  days  with  no 
land  in  sight.  There  are  but  few  ships,  and  the  only 
moving  things  upon  the  water  are  the  wliite  gulls  which 
hover  about  us,  and  the  schools  of  silvery  fl3dng-fish  which 


26  SOUTH  AMERICA 

dart  from  wave  to  wave,  one  now  and  then  jumping  too 
high  and  lighting  on  our  deck  in  its  flight. 

But  listen,  the  captain  is  calling !  He  tells  us  that  we 
are  approaching  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  that  wonderful 
strip  of  earth  which  ties  North  America  and  South  America 
together.  We  rush  to  the  prow  of  the  ship  and  look  toward 
the  west.  A  thin  line  of  hazy  blue  seems. to  be  floating 
up  out  of  the  water  at  the  horizon.  Now  the  blue  deepens. 
It  rises  in  a  range  of  low  mountains,  while  little  green 
islands  seem  to  bob  out  of  the  sea  in  front  of  our  steamer. 

Now  we  are  closer.  That  tall  shaft  at  the  right  is  the 
Toro  hghthouse,  and  the  buildings  and  docks  at  the  left 
are  those  of  Cristobal  at  the  eastern  entrance  to  the  Panama 
Canal.  Beside  Cristobal  is  Colon  (ko-lon'),  the  old  town  on 
this  side  of  the  isthmus.  We  can  see  the  coconut  palm  trees 
shading  the  houses.  They  extend  down  to  the  shore  and 
their  fan-like  leaves,  moving  to  and  fro  in  the  breeze,  seem 
to  be  waving  to  us  a  welcome  to  Panama. 

1.  How  do  we  go  to  South  America?     Describe  our  journey. 

2.  How  far  is  it  from  New  York  to  Panama?  How  long  does  it 
take  us?  Make  a  list  of  the  places  we  pass  on  the  way.  Suppose 
we  went  from  New  York  along  the  east  coast  of  South  America,  how 
far  would  we  travel  to  Rio  de  Janeiro?  To  Buenos  Aires?  To 
Panama  via  the  Strait  of  Magellan? 

3.  Why  does  the  captain  take  observations  of  the  sun? 

4.  What  is  the  Gulf  Stream?  How  long  does  it  take  us  to  cross 
it  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  per  hour? 

5.  Trace  Columbus'  journey  on  the  map  from  Palos  near  Gibraltar 
to  San  Salvador. 

6.  Locate  Cuba  and  Haiti  on  the  map. 

7.  Where  is  Guantanamo?  Why  is  it  an  important  place  on  the 
route  to  Panama?  Why  do  we  need  to  guard  the  way  into  the 
Caribbean  Sea?  What  great  naval  battle  took  place  near  Santiago? 
What  brave  deed  was  done  by  a  naval  officer  in  a  narrow  strait 
there  ? 


PANAMA  AND  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  27 

III.   PANAMA  AND   THE   PACIFIC   OCEAN 

WE  shall  steam  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  within 
a  very  few  hours.  The  first  white  man  who  crossed 
it  took  twenty-nine  days,  and  his  journey  has  made  him 
famous  as  one  of  the  world's  great  explorers.  It  was  but 
a  few  years  after  South  America  was  discovered.  In  his 
first  voyage  Columbus  had  touched  only  at  the  West 
Indies,  and  it  was  not  until  1498  that  he  set  foot  on  the 
mainland  of  the  continent  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Orinoco  River.  Within  the  next  six  years  he  had  coasted 
the  country  from  Mexico  to  Venezuela,  and  other  explorers, 
including  Americus  Vespucius,  for  whom  America  was 
named,  had  gone  along  the  east  coast  as  far  south  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  In  the  meantime,  John 
and  Sebastian  Cabot  had  visited  the  shores  of  New  England, 
and  a  great  land  was  known  to  lie  at  the  north. 

Everywhere  along  this  vast  stretch  of  coast  the  ex- 
plorers were  looking  for  a  waterway  through  to  India  and 
Japan.  They  still  supposed  that  America  was  a  part  of 
Asia  and  did  not  know  that  a  new  world  was  discovered. 
Expedition  after  expedition  was  sent  out  from  Europe  to 
find  out  more  about  the  country,  and  among  the  most 
daring  of  the  adventurers  was  a  young  Spaniard  named 
Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  who  came  with  a  party  to  the 
Gulf  of  Darien,  not  far  east  of  where  we  are  now.  Here 
he  founded  a  settlement,  married  the  daughter  of  an 
Indian  chief,  and  went  about  trading  for  gold. 

One  day  when  he  was  weighing  some  gold  that  he  was 
about  to  buy,  one  of  the  chiefs  struck  the  scales  with  his 
fist,  scattering  the  precious  metal  upon  the  ground,  and 
said:  "If  this  is  what  you  prize  so  much  that  you  are 
ready  to  leave  your  homes  and  risk  your  lives  for  it,  I  can 


28  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tell  you  of  a  land  where  gold  is  so  common  that  the  people 
use  it  instead  of  pottery  for  their  bowls  and  cups." 

The  chief  spoke  of  Peru,  a  country  which  was  then  rich 
in  gold,  and  in  which  we  shall  travel  by  and  by.  His 
words  excited  Balboa.  He  questioned  the  Indians,  and 
was  told  that  over  the  mountains  was  a  sea  so  great  that 
no  one  had  ever  come  to  its  end,  and  that  the  land  of  gold 
lay  to  the  southward  on  the  shores  of  that  sea. 
I  Balboa  decided  to  find  out  if  this  story  was  true,  and 
early  in  September,  15 13,  he  started  with  about  two  hun- 
dred men  and  a  small  pack  of  bloodhounds  to  make  his 
way  over  the  mountains.  He  soon  had  a  fight  with  the 
Indians,  but  they  were  frightened  at  the  guns  and  dogs. 
He  conquered  them  and  persuaded  them  to  act  as  his 
guides.  He  then  cut  his  way  through  the  thick  forests 
to  the  top  of  the  range,  and  there,  on  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  September,  15 13,  was  able  to  look  out  over  the  great 
expanse  of  water  which  we  call  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Four 
days  later  he  had  cut  a  path  through  the  jungle  down  the 
south  slope  and  with  sword  in  hand  had  rushed  into  the 
water  up  to  his  waist,  claiming  the  sea  and  all  it  contained 
for  the  king  of  Spain.  This  was  seven  years  before  Ferdi- 
nand Magellan  had  sailed  from  the  Atlantic  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  through  the  strait  named  after  him  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  continent. 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama  is  not  large.  The  neck  of  an 
'hour  glass  is  not  so  narrow  in  comparison  with  the  globes 
above  and  below  it,  as  is  this  little  strip  of  land  with  the 
continents  of  North  America  and  South  America  which  it 
joins.  If  the  country  were  level,  we  could  walk  across  its 
narrowest  part  in  a  day,  and  with  an  airplane  we  could  fly 
over  the  mountains  from  ocean  to  ocean  in  less  than  an  hour. 
Yes,  the  isthmus  is  narrow,  but  until  we  built  the  canal  from 


Relief  INIap  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

2Q 


30  SOUTH  AMERICA 

one  side  to  the  other  it  formed  a  wall  against  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  All  ships  going  from  the  Atlantic  westward 
into  the  Pacific  had  to  sail  many  thousands  of  miles  out  of 
their  courses  in  traveHng  around  South  America,  and  there 
was  no  short  cut  from  ocean  to  ocean.  The  necessity  of 
a  canal  was  seen  shortly  after  Balboa  discovered  the  Pacific, 
and  he  suggested  that  one  might  be  made  through  the 
mountains  at  Darien  some  distance  east  of  where  the 
Panama  Canal  now  is.  Thirty-eight  years  later  King 
Philip  II  of  Spain  was  urged  to  dig  such  a  canal,  and  it  is 
now  several  hundred  years  since  Antonio  Galvo,  a  Portu- 
guese, wrote  a  book  showing  that  canals  might  be  made 
through  Nicaragua,  or  Panama,  or  through  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien..  Other  plans  were  made  from  time  to  time,  but 
it  was  not  until  1879,  ten  years  after  the  Suez  Canal  was 
completed,  that  any  real  work  was  begun. 

At  that  time  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  the  French  engineer 
who  built  the  Suez  Canal,  made  surveys  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  a  great  company  was  formed  to  cut  through 
the  land  from  one  side  to  the  other.  Their  plan  was  to 
make  a  sea  level  canal,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  one  might 
be  constructed  within  a  few  years.  Many  thousands  of  men 
were  employed,  shiploads  of  machinery  were  brought  across 
the  ocean  from  France,  and  vast  sums  of  money  were  spent. 

But  the  work  soon  proved  to  be  greater  than  De  Lesseps 
had  thought,  and  the  money  was  all  gone  before  one  third 
of  the  canal  was  dug.  Later  on  another  French  company 
took  hold  and  continued  the  digging  for  a  few  years.  It 
also  became  discouraged  and  sold  to  the  United  States  the 
rights  wliich  it  had  bought  from  Colombia  to  build  the 
canal.  That  was  in  1904,  and  within  ten  years  from  that 
time  we  had  completed  the  canal  that  now  connects  the 
two  oceans. 


WE   STEAM  THROUGH   THE   CANAL  31 

IV.   WE   STEAM   THROUGH   THE   CANAL 

OUR  canal  is  not  a  great  ditch  cut  through  the  isthmus 
at  sea  level  from  ocean  to  ocean.  The  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  do  not  come  together,  and  there 
is  no  salt  water  in  the  canal  where  it  crosses  the  mountains. 
The  canal  is  really  a  bridge  from  ocean  to  ocean  formed  by 
the  fresh  waters  of  the  Chagres  (cha'gres)  River.  It  is  a 
lock  canal.  The  huge  vessels  steam  in  on  salt  water  to  the 
locks  situated  where  the  land  rises  on  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  sides  of  the  isthmus.  The  fresh  water  is  then  let  into 
the  locks  and  Ufts  the  vessels  up  step  by  step,  until  they  are 
raised  as  high  above  the  sea  as  the  roof  of  an  eight-story 
house.  They  are  then  able  to  steam  into  the  wide  and  deep 
canal  which  has  been  cut  across  the  isthmus.  Then,  by 
means  of  the  locks  at  the  opposite  end,  they  are  lowered 
gently  to  sea  level  again. 

The  canal  goes  through  the  great  mountain  chain  which 
runs  along  the  western  side  of  our  hemisphere  from  Alaska 
to  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  These  mountains  begin  at  the 
Arctic  Ocean  and  run  almost  to  the  Antarctic  Ocean. 
We  know  of  them  in  the  Rockies  and  in  the  plateaus  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America.  In  South  America  they  are 
the  Andes.  The  range  is  lowest  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
where  the  tallest  of  the  peaks  is  not  half  a  mile  high.  Where 
the  canal  crosses  the  mountains  the  land  is  only  five  hundred 
feet  high,  or  about  as  high  as  the  Washington  Monument. 
It  is  only  forty  miles  from  coast  to  coast,  but  from  deep 
water  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  deep  water  in  the  Pacific 
it  is  about  fifty  miles. 

The  canal  has,  therefore,  a  length  of  fifty  miles.  Its 
bottom  has  a  width  of  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred 
feet,  and  the  depth  is  about  forty-five  feet.     For  twenty- 


32  SOUTH  AMERICA 

four  miles  the  channel  winds  its  way  through  Lake  Gatun 
(ga-toon'),  whose  surface  is  eighty-five  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  ocean.  The  lake  has  an  area  of  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  square  miles.  It  is  formed  by  the  Gatun  dam, 
which  we  have  built  between  two  hills  on  the  banks 
of  the  Chagres  River.  The  dam  holds  back  the  waters 
of  the  Chagres,  and  by  means  of  the  locks  on  one  side  of  it 
the  ships  are  lifted  up  and  down  so  that  they  can  pass  into 
or  out  of  the  lake.  On  the  other  side  of  the  lake  the 
mountains  are  five  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
but  we  have  dug  a  wide  ditch  through  them  down  to  about 
forty  feet  above  sea  level  so  that  the  surface  of  the  waters 
flowing  through  is  at  the  same  level  as  that  of  the  lake. 
This  ditch  is  known  as  the  Culebra  (koo-la'brii)  cut.  At 
the  western  end  of  it  there  are  locks  which  raise  and  lower 
the  vessels  from  and  to  the  Pacific. 

The  work  of  making  the  canal  was  enormous.  We  shall 
not  reahze  how  great  as  we  sail  through.  Nature  has  clad 
the  sides  of  the  ditch  and  the  dam  with  tropical  vegetation, 
and  the  canal  now  looks  to  be  thousands  of  years  old.  It 
seems  like  a  natural  valley  through  hills  unchanged  since 
the  creation  of  the  world. 

I  visited  the  canal  many  times  while  it  was  building  and 
the  comparisons  which  follow  were  figured  out  by  the 
engineers  during  the  construction.  The  Culebra  cut 
through  the  mountains  required  the  blasting  down  and 
carrying  away  of  so  much  earth  and  rock  that  it  would 
equal  a  ditch  three  feet  wide,  three  feet  deep,  and  almost 
sixty  thousand  miles  long.  It  would  more  than  fill  a  ditch 
of  that  size  reaching  twice  around  the  world  at  the  equator 
and  leave  so  much  over  that  it  would  fill  a  hole  through  the 
center  of  the  earth  big  enough  for  a  Newfoundland  dog  to 
crawl  through !     The  Gatun  dam  contains  so  much  earth 


WE   STEAM   THROUGH   THE   CANAL  33 

and  rock  that  it  would  take  twice  as  many  horses  as  there 
are  in  all  the  United  States  to  haul  the  stuff  if  it  were  loaded 
on  wagons.  The  locks  on  the  canal  have  twelve  great 
gates  made  of  steel,  which  weigh  lifty-eight  thousand  tons, 
and  each  gate  has  two  doors  made  of  steel  plates  fastened 
together  by  more  than  six  million  rivets. 

At  times  as  many  as  fifty  thousand  workmen  were 
employed  on  the  canal,  and  in  one  year  the  food  required 
for  them  included  five  million  loaves  of  bread,  nine  million 
pounds  of  meat,  one  million  pounds  of  onions,  and  one 
thousand  carloads  of  rice.  The  cost  of  making  the  canal, 
including  that  of  the  fortifications,  was  over  four  hundred 
milHon  dollars. 

The  first  vessel  to  pass  through  the  canal  was  a  steamer 
of  ten  thousand  tons.  It  was  the  Ancon,  belonging  to  the 
United  States  government,  and  it  made  the  trip  in  nine 
hours.  Its  course  was  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
and  the  journey  it  accomplished,  had  there  been  no  canal, 
would  have  required  a  trip  around  South  America  of  about 
thirty-five  days.  That  was  on  August  15,  1914.  Within 
the  next  three  months  more  than  two  hundred  vessels 
carrying  over  a  million  tons  of  freight  were  thus  lifted  over 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  ever  since  then  a  procession  of 
steamers  loaded  with  passengers  and  goods  has  been 
moving  back  and  forth  over  this  great  artificial  waterway. 
The  number  steadily  increases,  and  the  freight  now  passing 
through  amounts  to  many  millions  of  tons  every  year. 
The  traffic  is  growing  so  fast  that  we  may  some  day  have 
to  build  a  second  canal  through  the  isthmus  or  perhaps 
through  Central  America. 

Indeed,  it  is  hard  to  realize  the  saving  in  time  and  dis- 
tance created  by  this  short  cut  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Dur- 
ing our  Spanish  War  we  needed  one  of  our  battleships 


34 


WE  STEAM  THROUGH  THE  CANAL       35 

then  in  the  Pacific  to  aid  us  in  the  Atlantic,  and  this  vessel, 
the  Oregon,  had  to  steam  from  San  Francisco  to  the  southern 
end  of  South  America  and  pass  through  the  Strait  of  Ma- 
gellan to  come  to  New  York.  The  distance  that  way  is 
more  than  thirteen  thousand  miles.  By  the  Panama 
Canal  it  is  a  little  more  than  five  thousand  miles,  and  the 
saving  in  time  is  three  or  four  weeks.  The  canal  will  be 
of  great  value  in  sending  our  ships  from  one  coast  to  the 
other  in  time  of  war.  In  1919,  after  the  World  War  in 
Europe,  the  entire  Pacific  fleet  of  the  United  States  navy 
passed  through  the  canal  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the 
Pacific  within  a  few  days. 

By  the  canal,  Honolulu  is  seven  thousand  miles  nearer 
New  York  than  by  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  and  the  saving 
in  going  to  Manila  is  almost  one  thousand  miles  more. 
The  west  coast  of  South  America  has  been  brought  almost 
into  the  front  dooryard  of  our  Atlantic  seaports.  Guaya- 
quil (gwi-a-kel'),  Ecuador,  is  now  seven  thousand  miles 
nearer  New  York.  New  Orleans  is  nearer  to  Peru  than 
to  any  port  of  Great  Britain. 

But  we  shall  appreciate  the  canal  better  as  our  vessel 
goes  through  it.  We  steam  past  the  Toro  Ughthouse 
inside  the  great  breakwaters,  built  to  defend  the  canal  from 
the  storms  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  enter  Limon  (Ic-mon') 
Bay.  We  pass  Cristobal,  with  its  statue  of  De  Lesseps 
on  the  point  and  the  coconut  trees  half  hiding  the  houses, 
and  enter  the  ditch,  steaming  on  until  at  seven  miles  from 
the  breakwaters  we  come  to  what,  at  first,  look  like  huge 
fortifications  of  white  stone  with  a  long  wall  of  green  sod 
on  each  side  of  them.  The  wall  of  green  is  the  Gatun 
dam,  and  what  seem  to  be  forts  are  really  the  mighty 
locks  of  concrete  which  will  raise  us  by  three  steps  to  the 
level  of  Gatun  Lake. 


36 


WE  STEAM  THROUGH  THE   C\NAL  37 

As  we  approach,  the  iron  gate  of  the  first  lock  opens  and 
we  steam  into  a  chamber,  the  walls  of  which  extend  high 
above  the  deck  of  our  vessel.  Now  the  gate  closes.  The 
water  bursts  through  the  floor  of  the  lock.  It  is  boiling 
and  bubbling,  and  our  steamer  is  rising.  The  deck  is  soon 
high  above  the  walls,  and  we  are  floating  on  the  level  of 
the  water  of  the  second  lock  chamber.  The  huge  steel 
gate  in  front  of  us  slowly  opens,  and  our  steamer  is  towed 
by  the  electric  locomotives,  which  run  along  the  top  of  the 
locks,  into  this  second  chamber.  There  are  four  loco- 
motives. Two  are  fastened  to  the  front  of  the  vessel, 
moving  it  onward ;  and  the  other  two  are  on  the  tracks 
at  the  rear  holding  it  so  that  it  can  go  only  so  fast  and  no 
faster. 

Now  the  gate  behind  us  has  closed.  The  water  flows 
in  from  the  bottom  and  again  our  ship  rises  until 
we  are  on  the  level  of  the  third  lock.  We  are  towed  into 
this,  and  in  a  similar  way  are  raised  to  the  level  of  Lake 
Gatun.  We  are  now  eighty-five  feet  above  the  waters  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  we  shall  move  on  at  this  level  across 
the  isthmus  until  we  reach  the  locks  through  which  we  shall 
descend  into  the  Pacific. 

The  voyage  across  the  lake  is  dehghtful.  Our  course 
winds  in  and  out  among  beautiful  islands,  and  we  now  and 
then  pass  floating  islands,  patches  of  the  tropical  swamp 
which  have  been  Hfted  from  their  beds  by  the  floods  of  the 
Chagres  River  and  are  carried  by  the  winds  here  and  there 
over  the  lake.  Some  of  these  islands  are  several  acres  in 
area.  They  rise  and  fall  on  the  waves  made  by  our  steamer 
as  we  go  by.  Here  and  there  we  see  dead  trees  rising  out 
of  the  lake.  Some  are  as  white  as  the  bones  of  a  skeleton, 
and  others  green  with  the  orchids  and  other  air  plants  ^^^th 
which  they  are  loaded. 

694G9 


38  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  islands  and  the  shores  of  the  lake  are  a  tropical 
jungle  with  pahns  of  many  varieties  rising  above  it.  Here 
and  there  we  see  strange  birds  in  the  trees.  Some  of  them 
have  gorgeous  plumage,  and  among  them  are  blue  and  white 
herons  with  aigrettes  of  beautiful  feathers  high  on  their  heads. 
There  are  also  ducks  and  pelicans  swimming  on  the  water. 
The  pelicans  are  huge  birds  with  great  bags  in  their  throats 
in  which  they  store  the  fish  they  catch  until  they  need  them 
for  food.  On  one  island  we  see  two  alligators  sunning  them- 
selves on  the  edge  of  the  water. 

Now  we  have  crossed  the  lake  and  have  steamed  by  the 
place  where  the  Chagres  River  flows  in.  Just  opposite 
the  mouth  of  the  Chagres  is  the  highest  point  on  the  Canal 
Zone.  It  is  seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  The  canal 
has  now  narrowed  to  three  hundred  feet.  We  are  entering 
the  Culebra  cut  where  the  greatest  of  the  excavations  were 
made.  The  hills  are  now  high  above  us  and  we  are  in  a 
narrow  channel  steaming  along  between  sloping  walls  of 
the  greenest  of  green.  The  rock  and  earth  which  once 
formed  the  banks  of  the  canal  are  now  covered  with  grass 
and  flowers.  Palm  trees  and  fern  trees  have  grown  up 
here  and  there,  and  we  are  saiUng  through  a  garden  of 
tropical  wonders.  There  are  but  few  marks  of  the  steam 
shovels  and  other  great  engineering  machines  which  aided 
in  digging  this  part  of  the  canal. 

We  steam  for  nine  miles  through  the  cut,  and  then  come 
:to  the  lock  of  Pedro  Miguel  (pa'dro  me-gel')  which  drops  us 
thirty  feet  into  beautiful  Lake  Miraflores  (me'ra-flo'ras). 
It  is  much  smaller  than  Lake  Gatun,  and  we  soon  cross 
it  to  the  locks  on  the  opposite  side,  which,  by  two  steps, 
lower  us  to  the  level  of  the  channel  through  which  we  sail 
out  to  Balboa  (bal-bo'a),  the  port  on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
There  is  a  huge  breakwater  at  Balboa,  and  the  sea  beyond 


WE  STEAM  THROUGH  THE  CANAL  39 

it  is  spotted  with  islands  which  stand  like  sentinels  guarding 
the  works.  Fortifications  have  been  built  upon  one  of  them 
just  beyond  the  breakwater,  and  we  have  mighty  guns  there 
to  guard  the  canal.  There  are  also  fortifications  on  islands 
near  the  Atlantic  entrance,  and  hidden  forts  in  the  jungle 
which  lines  the  waterway  in  places,  so  that  it  will  be  easv 
to  defend  the  canal  in  time  of  war. 

1.  Tell  in  your  own  words  the  story  of  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean  by  Balboa  and  by  Magellan. 

2.  Describe  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Why  is  it  the  best  place  for 
the  Panama  Canal?  Show  the  saving  in  miles  made  by  the  canal 
in  the  distance  between  ten  great  ports  of  the  world.  Contrast  the 
routes  from  Callao  and  Valparaiso  to  Liverpool,  Havre,  and 
Gibraltar,  via  the  Strait  of  Magellan  and  the  Panama  Canal.  From 
the  same  ports  to  New  York,  Boston,  and  New  Orleans.  Take  a 
trip  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  Shanghai  via  the  Suez  Canal.  Via  the 
Panama  Canal.     (See  Tables  I  and  II.) 

3.  Who  first  tried  to  build  the  canal  ?  Why  did  they  not  succeed  ? 
Write  a  description  of  your  trip  through  the  canal.  Explain  how 
ships  can  be  raised  and  lowered  by  means  of  the  water  in  the  locks. 
Is  the  water  which  raises  the  ships  fresh  or  salt?     WTiy? 

4.  Give  some  of  the  advantages  of  the  canal  to  the  commerce  of 
the  world  —  of  our  eastern  and  western  states.  Why  is  it  of  great 
value  to  us  in  time  of  war? 

5.  How  does  the  canal  affect  our  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean? 
Make  a  voyage  from  New  York  to  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  and 
Samoa,  by  the  canal.  By  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  By  Suez.  How 
long  is  each  voyage  and  how  much  time  would  you  spend  on  the 
way? 

6.  How  long  is  the  Canal?     How  wide?     How  deep? 

7.  Compare  the  Panama  with  the  Suez  Canal.  (See  Carpenter's 
"Africa.")  With  the  St.  Mary's  Canal.  (See  Carpenter's  "  North 
America.")  With  the  Manchester  ship  canal.  The  Kiel  canal. 
(See  Carpenter's  "  Europe.")     Why  do  wc  need  forts  at  Panama? 


40 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


V.   THE   REPUBLIC   OF   COLOMBIA 

WE  are  sailing  southward  this  morning  upon  the 
mighty  Pacific.  We  left  Balboa  two  days  ago,  going 
out  just  as  the  sun  was  setting  over  the  islands  of  Flamenco, 
Perico,  and  Naos.  We  sailed  past  those  islands,  turned 
southward,  and  are  now  a  little  north  of  the  equator,  mov- 
ing along  the  coast 
of  Colombia.  We 
are  in  the  doldrums 
or  zone  of  equatorial 
calms  where  there  is 
so  little  wind  that  it 
is  sometimes  difficult 
for  sailing  vessels  to 
cross  it  on  their  way 
to  or  from  our  canal. 
The  air  is  almost  still 
and  the  sea  seems  to 
steam.  How  bright 
the  sun  is  and  how 
dazzling!  It  darts 
its  rays  down  and 
millions  of  diamonds  are  dancing  upon  the  waves  under 
our  eyes.  We  wink  and  blink  as  we  look.  The  reflected 
rays  of  the  sun  here  are  brighter  than  its  rays  in  July  at 
our  homes. 

Stand  with  me  at  the  side  of  the  ship  and  look  out 
toward  the  west.  Notice  how  the  blue  waves  stretch  on 
and  on  until  they  lose  themselves  in  the  sky.  That  water 
extends  westward  for  ten  thousand  miles  until  it  wraps 
itself  around  the  Phihppine  Islands  off  the  coast  of  Asia. 
We  are  near  where  the  Pacific  is  widest.     It  is  the  greatest 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COLOMBIA  41 

of  the  oceans,  and  it  holds  two  fifths  of  all  the  salt  water 
on  earth.  It  is  now  crossed  by  many  trade  routes  whose 
focus  is  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  all  the  countries  on 
the  west  coast  of  South  America  are  sending  their  goods 
northward  to  take  advantage  of  this  short  cut  into  the 
Atlantic. 

But  what  is  that  cackling  and  crowing  and  quacking 
we  hear?  Can  that  be  the  baa  of  a  lamb?  Was  not  that 
the  moo  of  a  cow?  We  rub  our  eyes  to  see  if  we  are  not 
dreaming.  This  voyage  of  ours  must  be  a  mistake,  and 
we  are  surely  back  near  one  of  the  farmyards  in  the  country 
at  home. 

No,  it  is  not  a  mistake.  The  noise  of  the  fowls  comes 
from  those  two-storied  coops  on  the  deck.  You  can  see 
the  chickens  and  geese  poking  their  heads  through  the  slats. 
The  bleating  and  mooing  is  from  sheep  and  cattle  kept 
in  stalls  two  floors  below.  They  are  carried  to  furnish 
the  meat  for  our  tables. 

What  a  noise  the  creatures  make !  We  are  awakened 
by  them  every  morning  and  hardly  know  where  we  are 
until  the  cabin  boy  brings  in  our  breakfast.  It  consists 
of  a  small  cup  of  coffee  and  one  or  two  slices  of  bread,  and, 
protest  as  we  may,  we  cannot  have  more  until  eleven  o'clock. 
This  is  the  custom  throughout  South  America.  Between 
eleven  and  one  they  have  a  second  breakfast,  which  is 
much  like  our  luncheon,  and  their  dinner  is  at  about  sL\ 
in  the  evening.  We  grumble  at  first,  but  soon  find  it  as 
pleasant  as  our  way  of  eating  at  home. 

Now  the  steamer  has  slowed  up  and  turned  to  the  east. 
We  are  sailing  into  one  of  the  ports  of  Colombia.  There 
are  palm  trees  and  bamboos  on  the  coast,  and  the  dense 
vegetation  behind  is  much  like  that  of  the  isthmus.  There 
is  a  town  situated  on  a  little  island  at  the  head  of  a  bay 


42 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


which  forms  an  excellent  harbor.  It  is  composed  of 
thatched  huts  and  of  one-  and  two-story  white  buildings 
covered  with  plaster  and   roofed  with   red   tiles.     There 

are  some  sailing 
vessels  at  anchor  in 
the  harbor,  and 
many  small  boats  in 
which  dark-skinned 
men  are  rowing  out 
to  our  steamer. 
We  are  now  in  the 
Bay  of  Buenaven- 
tura (bwa-na-ven- 
too'ra),  and  from 
here  we  shall  make 
a  long  tour  through 
Colombia. 

The  country  is 
so  vast  that  we  can- 
not expect  to  visit 
it  all.  Colombia  is 
as  long  from  north 
to  south  as  from  St. 
Paul  to  New  Or- 
leans, and  its  area 
is  about  ten  times 
as  large  as  the  state 
of  Pennsylvania. 
The  land  is  one  of  mountains  and  plains.  The  Andes  run 
through  it  in  three  high  ranges,  and  between  them  are  some 
of  the  most  fertile  river  valleys  of  all  South  America.  To 
the  east  of  the  mountains,  sloping  down  to  the  basins  of 
the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon,  are  vast  plains  which  fur- 


The  bright  yellow  pods  of  the  cacao  tree 
grow  along  the  branches.     They  contain 
the  seeds  from  which  chocolate  and  cocoa 
are  made. 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF   COLOMBIA  43 

nish  pasture  for  millions  of  cattle  and  sheep ;  and  agricul- 
ture thrives  on  the  plateaus  and  in  the  high  valleys.  Down 
here  on  the  seacoast  the  climate  is  tropical  and  the  ther- 
mometer often  rises  to  more  than  one  hundred  degrees 
above  zero.  On  the  high  peaks  of  the  Andes  the  snow 
and  ice  never  melt,  while  in  the  lofty  valleys  and  plateaus 
it  is  temperate  all  the  year  round. 

We  shall  observe  the  differences  in  climate  as  we  make 
our  way  over  the  country.  We  take  the  little  narrow- 
gauge  railroad  which  extends  from  Buenaventura  into  the 
interior,  and  then  go  on  mules  over  the  hills  into  the  valley 
of  the  Cauca  (kou'ka)  River.  This  is  one  of  the  most  fertile 
regions  of  Colombia,  and  it  is  typical  of  the  rich  Andean 
valleys.  It  is  an  almost  level  plain  about  two  hundred  miles 
long  and  twenty  miles  wide,  through  which  runs  a  beautiful 
stream  navigated  by  small  steamers.  The  soil  of  the  plain 
is  fertile,  and  the  country  is  covered  with  plantations  of 
sugar  cane,  cotton,  coffee,  and  the  cacao  from  w^hich  our 
chocolate  is  made.  There  are  great  fields  of  bananas  and 
large  orange  groves.  There  are  many  lemon  trees,  and 
we  make  lemonade  of  the  fruit  which  we  pick  from  the 
branches. 

We  stay  one  day  with  a  farmer  who  takes  us  through  his 
cacao  plantation.  He  has  thousands  of  trees,  and  we  ride 
with  him  through  one  orchard  after  another.  How  beauti- 
ful everything  is  !  The  cacao  trees  look  like  lilac  bushes, 
except  that  they  are  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  high.  They 
are  ragged  and  gnarly  with  leaves  of  bright  green.  The 
cacao  fruit  is  so  large  that  if  it  lay  on  the  ground  you  might 
think  it  a  little  squash  or  a  big  ripe  cucumber.  It  is  of 
a  bright  lemon  color  streaked  with  red.  Its  stem  is  at- 
tached to  the  trunk  and  large  limbs,  and  not  to  the  ends 
of  twigs  like  apples  or  pears. 


44  SOUTH  AMERICA 

To  show  us,  the  planter  chops  one  of  the  pods  in  two 
with  a  knife.  It  has  a  thick  skin,  and  inside  this  is  a 
white  pulp  in  which  are  imbedded  about  thirty  dark-brown 
seeds  much  Hke  large  Hma  beans.  From  these  seeds  are 
made  the  chocolate  and  cocoa  of  commerce. 

The  fruit  is  gathered  when  ripe  and  the  seeds  are  washed 
out  of  the  pulp.  They  are  dried  in  the  sun  and  shipped 
to  factories  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  In  the  factories 
they  are  ground,  and  from  their  meal,  after  several  processes 
which  take  out  some  of  the  oil,  the  pure  chocolate  is  made. 
From  the  seed  hulls,  in  much  the  same  way,  comes  the 
cocoa. 

In  another  part  of  the  plantation  we  learn  how  the  trees 
are  grown.  The  seeds  are  first  planted  in  hills  about 
fifteen  feet  apart,  three  seeds  being  put  in  each  hill.  They 
soon  sprout,  and  at  first  look  not  unlike  small  orange  trees. 
They  are  cultivated  and  the  weeds  are  kept  down.  After 
three  or  four  years  they  begin  to  produce  fruit,  and  con- 
tinue to  yield  for  thirty  years  and  more. 

We  shall  see  many  cacao  trees  in  other  parts  of  Colombia. 
Most  of  the  cacao  of  the  world  is  grown  in  Africa  and 
South  America,  and  this  product  is  one  of  the  principal 
exports  of  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Venezuela,  and  Brazil. 
Much  of  the  chocolate  we  drink  or  eat  in  cakes  and  candies 
comes  from  the  valley  of  the  Cauca.  Some  of  it  is  carried 
over  the  mountains  to  Buenaventura,  from  which  port  it 
goes  by  way  of  the  Panama  Canal  to  New  York.  Some 
is  shipped  down  the  Cauca  River  and  through  the  Magda- 
lena  (mag-da-la'na)  River  to  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  thence 
to  our  country. 

The  people  of  the  Cauca  valley  are  noted  for  their 
hospitality,  and  their  country  has  been  called  "The 
Land  of  the   Gentle   Yes,"    because   the   people   hate   to 


UP  THE  MAGDALENA  TO  BOGOTA  45 

say  "no"  to  any  request.  They  are  a  mixed  race  of 
Spaniards  and  Indians.  They  are  simple  in  their 
tastes,  their  chief  business  being  farming  and  fruit  raising. 

We  visit  Cali  (ka'le) ,  which  is  near  the  head  of  the  valley 
and  its  chief  commercial  center.  It  is  a  thriving  little  city 
with  houses  of  stucco  and  roofs  of  red  tiles.  It  is  several 
hundred  years  old,  but  is  rapidly  growing.  It  now  has 
electric  lights  run  by  the  falls  of  a  mountain  stream  which 
empties  into  the  Cauca. 

Our  next  trip  is  down  the  Cauca  River  on  small 
steamers  which  carry  us  into  the  Magdalena  River  and 
thence  out  to  the  coast.  Here  we  visit  the  seaports  of 
Barranquilla  (bar-ran-kel'ya)  and  Cartagena  (kar-ta-ha'na), 
each  of  which  is  several  centuries  old.  Barranquilla  is  on 
the  edge  of  the  delta  and  is  connected  with  the  seaport 
of  SabaniUa  (sa-ba-nel'ya)  by  a  railway  twenty  miles  long. 
Cartagena  is  on  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  it  has  a  railway 
to  the  Magdalena  River.  Another  important  seaport, 
as  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  is  Santa  Marta, 
which  has  also  a  small  line  of  railroad  going  into  the  in- 
terior. It  is  there  that  we  find  the  enormous  banana 
plantations  belonging  to  one  of  our  fruit  companies,  from 
which  vast  quantities  of  bananas  are  shipped  to  New  York 
and  Boston. 

VI.   UP  THE   MAGDALENA  TO   BOGOTA 

WE  have  left  the  seacoast  and  are  again  on  the  wide 
Magdalena  River  steaming  slowly  southward  into 
the  interior  of  Colombia.  Our  boat  is  a  stern-wheeler 
much  hke  those  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  but  it 
draws  only  four  or  five  feet  of  water.     Many  parts  of  the 


46 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


river  are  shallow,  and  we  have  to  steer  this  way  and  that 
to  avoid  the  sandbars  and  islands  which  are  continually 
forming  from  the  material  washed  down  from  the  Andes. 
The  river  is  wide  where  we  come  in  from  the  sea,  and  big 
ocean  vessels  go  as  far  inland  as.  Barranquilla.  Farther 
south  it  narrows,  but  it  is  often  a  mile  wide,  and  in  the 


Some  of  the  boats  on  the  jNlagdalena  River  are  propelled  by  a  wheel 
at  the  stern,  like  those  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi. 

lowlands  it  flows  through  a  tropical  jungle  where  the  trees 
are  matted  together  with  vines  and  the  palms  wave  their 
fanhke  branches  over  the  water. 

Now  we  pass  a  village  of  thatched  huts,  about  which  are 
little  groves  of  bananas,  and  now  go  by  sandy  islands  where 
the  alHgators  may  be  seen  sunning  themselves.  On  one 
islet  we  count  eighteen  of  these  monsters  asleep  on  the  shore. 
The  river  is  full  of  fish  which  often  become  frightened  by 
the  steamer  and  jump  high  out  of  the  water.  Thousands 
of  queer-looking  birds  are  to  be  seen,  and  we  now  and  then 
frighten  a  flock  of  parrots,  cranes,  pehcans,  or  flamingoes, 


UP  THE   MAGDALENA  TO   BOOOTA 


47 


which  flap  their  great  wings  as  they  rise  from  the  river. 
The  flamingoes  are  of  a  bright  pink,  and  they  fly  in  a  rosy 
stream  high  over  our  vessel. 

Our  fuel  is  wood,  and  we  have  to  stop  often  for  a  supply 
for  the  engines  at  the  little  stations  here  and  there  on  the 


Spinning  room  in  a  doth  factory,  Colombia. 

banks  of  the  river.  At  such  times  we  get  off  and  walk 
about  on  the  edge  of  the  jungle,  cutting  canes  from  the 
clumps  of  bamboo,  gathering  orchids,  or  trying  to  spear 
some  of  the  big  fish  for  which  the  Magdalena  is  noted. 

About  a  week  after  leaving  Barranquilla,   vve  arrive  at 
a  port  from  which  a  railroad  is  building  to  the  thriving  city 


48  SOUTH  .\^IERICA 

of  Medellin  (ma-thel-yen') ,  which  lies  high  up  on  the  moun- 
tains in  a  rich  gold  and  silver  mining  region,  and  a  little 
later  stop  at  La  Dorado,  where  we  take  a  railway  around 
the  rapids  to  Honda  (on'da) .  Here  we  hire  mules  and  climb 
for  two  days  up  the  hills  to  the  high  plateau  upon  which 
Bogota  (bo-go-taO  is  situated. 

Honda  is  half  as  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Magdalena 
as  St.  Louis  is  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  the  river 
extends  hundreds  of  miles  beyond  so  that  small  steamers 
can  go  a  long  distance  into  southern  Colombia.  There 
is  a  considerable  fall  at  the  rapids,  and  they  will  probably 
be  used  some  day  to  generate  power  for  manufacturing. 

Bogota  is  nearly  as  far  from  the  Caribbean  Sea  as 
Detroit  is  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  city  is  more 
than  eighty-six  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level.  It  is 
higher  than  Mexico  City  but  lower  than  La  Paz  or  Quito 
(ke'to),  or  Lassa,  the  capital  of  Tibet.  Although  it  is  near 
the'  equator  it  has  a  climate  much  Hke  our  spring  all 
the  year  round.  Roses  and  hlies  are  always  in  bloom,  and 
beds  of  blue  and  white  violets  load  the  air  with  perfume. 
Strawberries  are  to  be  had  from  January  to  December, 
and  in  the  markets  we  can  buy  peaches,  apples,  and  pears, 
as  well  as  the  most  delicious  pineapples,  oranges,  and 
bananas,  which  come  from  the  tropical  valleys  much  lower 
down. 

Bogota  lies  on  the  eastern  edge  of  a  beautiful  plateau, 
with  its  streets  cHmbing  the  hills  at  the  back.  The  plateau 
is  about  sixty  miles  long  and  thirty  miles  wide.  It  is 
covered  with  farms  and  spotted  with  little  white  farmhouses 
whose  dark-red  roofs  shine  under  the  sun.  It  has  green 
pastures  upon  which  fat  cattle  are  feeding,  many  fields  of 
potatoes,  and  great  patches  of  wheat  and  barley,  which 
are  rising  and  falling  under  the  winds. 


UP   THE   MAGDALENA  TO   BOGOTA  49 

We  spend  some  time  in  Bogota.  It  has  nearly  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  most  of  whom  are  of 
the  mixed  Spanish  and  Indian  race.  There  are  also  many 
Indians  who  have  come  in  from  the  country  about.  The 
men  have  on  white  trousers  and  shirts,  and  sometimes 
also  a  poncho,  or  blanket,  which  they  wear  over  their 
shoulders,  sticking  their  heads  out  through  a  hole  in  the 
center.  The  Indian  women  wear  dark  clothes,  and  nearly 
all  have  on  straw  hats  like  those  our  boys  wear  in  the 
summer.  Many  of  them  carry  heavy  burdens  on  their 
backs,  held  there  by  straps  about  their  heads  or  shoulders. 

Most  of  the  citizens  of  Bogota  are  white.  They  are  largely 
of  Spanish  descent,  and  many  of  the  children  have  rosy 
cheeks  caused  by  the  fresh,  bracing  air.  These  people  dress 
much  as  we  do,  but  the  women,  when  they  go  on  the  street, 
wear  black  gowns  and  have  black  shawls  on  their  heads. 
Many  of  the  men  wear  tall  hats  and  nearly  all  carry  canes. 

As  we  walk  about  the  city  we  see  many  fine  horses  with 
men  and  boys  riding  them.  There  are  also  ox-carts  and 
wagons  and  countless  donkeys  with  loads  on  their  backs. 
Donkeys  and  mules  are  the  chief  beasts  of  burden.  Bread, 
vegetables,  and  fruit  are  carried  about  from  house  to  house 
upon  them,  and  scores  of  the  httle  animals  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  market,  where  they  have  to  wait  until  their  masters 
sell  the  produce  they  have  brought  in  from  the  country. 

Bogota  is  a  Spanish-built  town,  and  its  low  houses  run 
around  patios  (pat'yos)  or  Httle  square  gardens,  so  that  our 
bedrooms  look  out  upon  beautiful  flowers.  The  houses  are 
close  to  the  street  with  strong  iron  bars  over  the  windows, 
and  their  outside  walls  are  painted  in  all  the  colors  of  the 
rainbow.  Most  of  the  roofs  are  of  red  tiles.  There  are 
many  churches.  The  people  are  Roman  Catholics,  and  we 
meet  priests  and  nuns  as  we  go  through  the  streets. 


50  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  best  part  of  the  city  is  about  the  Plaza  Bolivar 
(bo-le'var),  a  beautiful  park  with  gardens  of  flowers  and 
tropical  trees.  On  one  side  of  it  is  the  national  capitol, 
or  government  building,  and  on  another  the  cathedral. 
On  the  remaining  two  sides,  with  arcades  before  them,  are 
stores  containing  goods  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  There 
are  many  people  shopping,  and  in  the  evening  the  city  and 
parks  are  thronged  with  men,  women,  and  children. 

Bogota  has  electric  street  cars,  telephones,  and  electric 
Lights.  It  has  many  automobiles  and  all  modern  civic 
improvements.  Its  streets  are  paved  with  asphalt,  and  it 
has  several  beautiful  squares  and  parks  in  which  are 
statues  of  the  nation's  heroes.  In  the  Plaza  de  Espana 
is  the  bust  of  Cervantes,  the  author  of "  Don  Quixote."  The 
city  has  public  libraries,  and  there  are  daily  newspapers 
printed  in  Spanish.  It  is  the  capital  of  Colombia,  and  in 
it  are  the  houses  of  Congress  and  the  homes  and  offices  of  the 
president  and  other  officials.  We  are  told  that  the  republic 
is  modeled  after  the  United  States  and  that  its  government 
is  very  much  hke  ours.  There  are  many  soldiers  on  the 
streets  of  Bogota,  and  we  are  awakened  each  morning  by 
the  trumpeters  calHng  the  troops  out  to  drill.  There  are 
good  public  schools,  and  the  government  has  established 
post  schools,  aviation  schools,  and  schools  to  teach  farming. 
Bogota  is  sometimes  called  the  Athens  of  South  America. 

There  are  now  automobile  roads  in  many  parts  of  the 
country,  and  we  motor  out  through  a  valley  underlaid 
with  beds  of  coal  to  see  Tequendama  (ta-kan-da'ma)  Falls, 
which  are  within  an  hour's  ride  of  the  capital.  These  falls 
are  three  times  as  high  as  Niagara,  dropping  in  one  perpen- 
dicular plunge  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Their  volume 
of  water  is  small  compared  with  that  of  Niagara,  but  they 
create  the  electric  power  for  the  city. 


EMERALDS  AND   PLATINUM  $1 

VII.   EMERALDS   AND   PLATINUM 

HOW  would  you  like  to  have  a  mine  of  precious  stones 
more  valuable  than  diamonds,  or  a  bed  of  gravel 
sprinkled  with  grains  of  a  white  metal  worth  several  times 
its  weight  in  gold?  We  can  find  both  in  Colombia.  The 
precious  stones  are  emeralds,  gems  of  translucent  green 
which  are  among  the  most  beautiful  jewels  known,  and  the 
metal  is  platinum,  of  enormous  value  in  the  industrial  arts. 

We  shall  see  the  emerald  mines  first.  Colombia  pro- 
duces the  purest  and  most  beautiful  emeralds  from  mines 
near  Bogota.  In  ancient  times  the  best  emeralds  were 
mined  in  Upper  Egypt  near  the  Red  Sea.  Cleopatra  wore 
beautiful  stones  from  that  region,  and  the  Emperor  Nero 
is  said  to  have  had  a  large  Egyptian  emerald,  which  he  used 
as  an  eye  glass  to  view  the  lions  and  gladiators  fighting 
in  the  Colosseum.  PHny,  the  Roman  historian,  describes 
the  statue  of  a  lion  on  the  shores  of  Cyprus,  wliich  had 
emerald  eyes  so  brilliant  that  when  the  sun  shone  on  them 
they  frightened  the  fish. 

Shortly  after  South  America  was  discovered,  five  great 
emeralds  were  taken  from  the  Indians  of  Peru  and  brought 
back  to  Spain.  One  of  these  had  been  cut  into  a  rose, 
and  the  second  into  a  horn ;  a  third  was  a  fish  with  golden 
eyes,  and  the  fourth  a  bell  with  a  pearl  for  a  clapper,  while 
the  fifth  was  a  tiny  cup.  So  far  no  mines  of  emeralds  have 
been  found  in  Peru,  and  those  stones  may  have  come  from 
Colombia.  From  here  also  came  the  "  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire," one  of  the  most  valuable  emeralds  ever  found. 

The  purest  and  most  beautiful  emeralds  are  worth  far 
more  than  diamonds  of  the  same  size.  They  are  so  valuable 
that  one  of  us  could  carry  in  his  pockets  enough  to  be  a 
great  fortune.     The  mines  at  Muzo  (moo'so),  Colombia, 


52  SOUTH  AMERICA 

which  we  shall  visit,  now  belong  to  the  government,  and 
the  output  of  one  year  amounts  to  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  carats.  There  are  large  tracts  in  which  the  emeralds 
are  found,  and  it  will  be  many  years  before  the  mines  are 
exhausted. 

We  take  the  railroad  at  Bogota  and  ride  several  hours  to 
the  Httle  town  of  Zipaquira  (se'-pa-ke-ra') ,  where  we  get 
mules  and  climb  over  the  hills  to  the  mines.  The  country 
is  rough  and  the  trip  takes  us  three  days.  We  go  first 
over  a  mountain  spotted  with  salt  mines,  then  across  a 
cold,  dreary  plateau,  and  chmb  down  into  a  valley  which 
is  about  a  mile  above  the  sea  level.  Here  we  again  see 
how  latitude  and  altitude  affect  climate.  The  weather 
is  hot  and  there  are  orange  groves  and  coffee  plantations. 
The  next  day  it  is  bitterly  cold,  for  we  are  cHmbing  an- 
other high  range  of  mountains.  We  then  descend  into  a 
valley  and  later  climb  over  mountains  so  steep  that  we 
are  tired  out  when  we  at  last  reach  the  old  village  of 
Muzo,  which  has  been  the  center  of  the  emerald  industry 
for  hundreds  of  years. 

The  emeralds  are  found  not  far  from  the  town.  They 
lie  on  the  steep  slopes  of  a  mountain  covered  with  woods. 
The  earth  is  first  cut  away,  and  under  it  are  beds  of  black 
limestone  and  shale  containing  a  network  of  white  veins 
in  which  crystals  of  emerald  are  embedded.  When  taken 
out  each  is  a  six-sided  prism  of  the  richest  green  color. 

The  mining  is  done  by  Indian  laborers,  who  clear  away 
the  earth  and  rock  from  above,  and  then  break  up  the 
hmestone  with  crowbars,  picking  out  the  emerald  veins 
with  their  hands.  The  precious  stones  are  then  carefully 
separated  from  the  rock  and  are  sent  to  London  or  New 
York  to  be  cut  into  jewels.  The  Indians  are  guarded 
day  and  night  by  watchmen.     They  live  in  little  huts  near 


Mining  emeralds  in  ihe  Andes.     Below  is  a  piece  of  the  rock 
with  the  emeralds  showing.     Each  is  a  prism  of  purest  green. 


S3 


54  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  mines  and  are  not  allowed  to  keep  chickens  for  fear 
that  the  fowls,  in  scratching  for  gravel,  may  swallow  some 
of  the  emeralds  and  hide  them  away  in  their  craws. 

Leaving  Muzo,  we  make  our  way  back  to  Bogota,  from 
which  we  go  to  Honda  and  thence  ride  on  muleback  for 
days  over  the  mountains  and  valleys  to  the  seaport  of 
Buenaventura,  where  we  entered  Colombia.  All  the  way 
we  hear  much  and  see  something  of  the  minerals  of  Colom- 
bia. The  northern  Andes  are  one  of  the  world's  treasure 
vaults,  and  they  contain  valuable  beds  of  iron,  copper, 
lead,  silver,  and  gold.  They  have  been  mining  gold  in 
Colombia  since  the  Spaniards  conquered  the  Indians,  and 
within  that  time  more  than  seven  hundred  milhon  dollars' 
worth  has  been  taken  out  of  the  rocks  and  from  the  beds 
of  the  streams.  Gold  is  to  be  found  in  every  state  of  the 
republic,  and  color  or  traces  of  the  precious  metal  in  the 
gravel  of  almost  every  stream.  One  of  the  richest  gold 
mining  sections  is  Antioquia  (an-te-o'ke-a) ,  where  MedelHn 
is  the  chief  city,  and  there  are  silver  mines  farther  south 
in  Tolima  (to-le'ma)  and  Cauca.  Copper  has  been  dis- 
covered in  five  different  states,  and  beds  of  coal  are 
known  to  exist.  The  country  has  also  valuable  fields  of 
petroleum. 

The  most  interesting  of  the  minerals  of  Colombia  is 
platinum.  This  metal  is  rare,  most  of  the  world's  prod- 
uct coming  from  the  Ural  Mountains  in  Russia.  Un- 
til the  World  War,  Russia  was  producing  nine  tenths  of 
all  that  was  mined,  but  since  then  a  great  deal  has  been 
exported  from  Colombia.  The  platinum  is  found  mixed 
with  other  metals  in  the  gravel  of  the  streams.  It  is 
washed  out  and  separated  and  then  sent  to  the  market. 

Platinum  has  a  value  several  times  greater  than  gold. 
It  is  not  dissolved  by  acids  or  melted  by  a  very  high  tem- 


EMERALDS  AND   PLATINUM  55 

perature,  therefore,  it  is  indispensable  in  many  chemical 
operations.  It  is  used  in  making  munitions  and  nitrates, 
and  for  this  purpose  was  very  important  in  the  World 
War.  At  that  time  our  supply  from  Russia  was  cut  off 
and  all  we  used  came  from  Colombia.  Platinum  is  used 
also  in  dentistry,  and  I  doubt  not  that  some  of  us  have 
bits  of  platinum  in  our  teeth  which  have  been  filled.  It 
is  employed  as  a  setting  for  diamonds  and  other  precious 
stones,  and  it  makes  the  most  costly  of  jewelry. 

Platinum  can  be  pulled  out  into  wires  as  fine  as  the 
hair  of  a  baby,  so  fine  that  twelve  hundred  of  them,  laid 
side  by  side,  would  cover  a  width  of  only  one  inch, 

1.  Trace  our  journey  from  Panama  lo  Colombia.  Compare  the 
Pacific  with  the  other  great  oceans.  What  islands  of  the  Pacific 
belong  to  us?  How  did  we  acquire  them?  Which  group  is  the 
largest  ?     The  most  valuable  ? 

2.  Compare  Colombia  with  your  own  state  as  to  size  and  climate. 
How  do  mountains  affect  climate?  Why  has  Bogota,  so  near  the 
equator,  cool  weather  and  the  fruits  and  grains  of  the  temperate 
zone?     What  is  the  government  of  Colombia? 

3.  What  is  cacao?  From  what  countries  of  the  world  does  it 
come?  (See  Table  XVI.)  Make  a  visit  to  a  cacao  plantation 
and  trace  a  box  of  cacao  beans  from  there  to  New  York.  How 
is  chocolate  made?  What  candy  do  we  get  from  cacao?  (See 
Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is  Fed,"  pages  317-322.) 

4.  What  other  important  tropical  fruit  do  we  import  from  Colom- 
bia? How  is  it  raised?  From  what  seaport  docs  it  come?  What 
does  it  cost  at  your  home  ?  Tell  the  story  of  its  travels  if  it  came 
from  Colombia.  (See  Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is  Fed,"  page 
271.) 

5.  Contrast  the  principal  river  of  Colombia  with  the  principal 
river  of  the  United  States.  Describe  a  trip  up  this  river.  Make  a 
list  of  the  animals  you  sec  along  its  banks. 

6.  Would  you  like  to  live  in  Bogota?  Why?  Describe  the  city 
and  its  inhabitants.  What  great  falls  arc  near  by?  How  do  they 
compare  with  Niagara  Falls  ? 


56  SOUTH  AMERICA 

7.  Describe  your  visit  to  the  emerald  mines.  Compare  these 
precious  stones  with  diamonds,  sapphires,  and  rubies.  (See  Car- 
penter's "How  the  World  is  Clothed,"  chapters  35  and  39.) 

8.  What  is  platinum?  Give  some  of  its  uses.  From  what  two 
countries  does  the  most  of  the  world's  supply  come?  Why  was  it  of 
value  in  the  World  War?  Mention  other  important  minerals  that 
come  from  Colombia. 


-^»<<> 


VIII.   A   LAND   OF   THE   EQUATOR 

WE  have  left  Colombia,  have  steamed  along  the  north- 
west coast  of  Ecuador,  have  sailed  by  the  Galapagos 
(ga-lap'a-gos)  Islands,  noted  for  their  enormous  turtles, 
have  called  at  the  ports  of  Esmeraldas  (es-ma-ral'das)  and 
Bahia  (ba-e'a),  and  are  going  up  the  Guayas  (gwi'as) 
River  to  Guayaquil,  the  chief  seaport  of  the  country.  It 
was  only  yesterday  that  we  crossed  the  equator,  and  we 
are  now  a  little  south  of  that  Hne  in  one  of  the  hottest 
regions  of  the  world. 

Ecuador  is  the  Spanish  name  for  equator,  and  the  country 
lies  on  both  sides  of  that  Hne.  It  is  more  than  twice  as 
large  as  Illinois  and  almost  as  large  as  the  United  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  It  has  rivers  that  flow  into 
the  Pacific  Ocean  and  also  some  that  go  down  into  the 
Amazon  and  the  Atlantic. 

Ecuador  consists  of  a  strip  of  low  land  along  the  Pacific 
Ocean  about  eighty  miles  wide,  running  back  to  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Andes  ;  of  the  wide  Andean  highlands  ;  and  of 
their  eastern  slope,  which  falls  rapidly  to  the  vast  forests  of 
the  Amazon  basin.  Only  the  lowlands  of  the  east  and  west 
are  tropical.  The  cHmate  grows  steadily  cooler  as  one 
cUmbs  the  slopes  of  the  Andes,  and  in  the  high  valleys 


A  LAND  OF  THE   EQUATOR 


57 


'  ^    ^-ifQuavaiiuilV 

*^  '■--<.     '     nCitVlira     \ 


r*X'  n-^x;    i\k*.    >-J  ,!/ 


and  plains  upheld  by  these  mountains,  having  an  average 
height  of  more  than  a  mile  and  one  half  above  the  sea, 
the  chmate  is  like  spring  all  the  time.  Indeed,  as  we  go 
from  the  seacoast  to  the  tops  of  the  Andes  we  shall  hnd 
every  kind  of  cli- 
mate from  the  torrid 
to  the  frigid  zone, 
the  higher  peaks 
being  clad  with  per- 
petual snow. 

Along  the  coast  it 
is  easy  to  realize  that 
we  are  still  in  the 
tropics.  Look  at 
the  city  of  Guaya- 
quil as  it  lies  on  the 
banks  of  the  river. 
There  is  not  a  chim- 
ney rising  above  any 

of  the  houses,  and  the  buildings  are  made  without  glass 
windows,  mere  holes  in  the  walls  serving  for  light  and 
air.  The  town  does  not  need  furnaces,  and  heating  stoves 
are  unknown. 

The  dark-skinned  boatmen  who  have  rowed  out  to  the 
ship  to  take  us  on  shore  wear  but  little  clothing,  and  as 
we  land  at  the  wharf  we  see  half-naked  babies  playing  about 
near  their  mothers,  who  sit  in  the  shade  of  the  buildings 
peddling  oranges,  pineapples,  bananas,  and  other  tropical 
fruits. 

How  the  sun  beats  down  upon  us  as  we  stand  in  the  street ! 
We  have  on  thick  hats  and  we  carry  umbrellas.  We  are 
warned  to  walk  in  the  shade  and  to  stay  in  at  midday. 
Guayaquil  has  often  been  very  unhealthy,  but  it  is  said 


A  LAND  OF  THE  EQUATOR  59 

to  be  safe  for  tourists  and  others  to-day.  Nevertheless, 
it  has  had  yellow  fever  and  bubonic  plague,  and  we  shall 
always  sleep  under  mosquito  nettings  at  night. 

Let  us  leave  the  wharves  and  go  farther  over  into  the 
business  section.  Now  we  arc  walking  under  arcades  by 
one  store  after  another.  It  is  Hke  passing  through  a 
museum  or  a  bazaar  in  the  East  Indies.  The  shops  are  all 
open.  The  front  walls  have  been  folded  back  or  taken 
away  for  the  day  and  the  goods  are  piled  upon  the  counters 
and  stacked  on  the  floors. 

What  a  queer  throng  is  this  that  moves  along  in  the 
shade !  There  are  white  women  in  black  gowns  with 
black  shawls  over  their  heads.  There  are  Indian  girls 
in  bright-colored  dresses  and  straw  hats,  and  copper- 
skinned  Indian  peons,  or  workmen,  who  trot  along  carry- 
ing bags  of  cacao  and  other  wares  on  their  backs. 

How  many  donkeys  there  are  in  the  street !  Here  comes 
one  loaded  with  lumber.  He  has  three  long  boards  strapped 
on  each  side  his  back  and  he  clears  the  whole  roadway 
when  his  master  turns  him  about.  There  is  another  carry- 
ing two  large  wooden  boxes,  between  which  his  head  peeps 
out.  That  is  the  bread  wagon  of  Guayaquil,  and  the  boy 
who  is  dragging  the  animal  onward  is  probably  the  son  of 
the  baker.  There  are  other  donkeys  carrying  vegetables  and 
fruit  in  panniers,  and  we  see  that  these  Httle  animals  here 
take  the  places  of  our  huckster  carts,  carriages,  and  drays. 

But  what  is  the  matter  with  that  donkey's  legs  ?  He 
seems  to  have  on  trousers,  and  there  is  a  band  of  cotton 
cloth  on  the  under  side  of  his  body.  We  see  other  donkeys 
dressed  the  same  way,  and  when  we  ask  why  are  told  that 
the  gnats  and  flies  are  so  bad  in  Guayaquil  that  the  donkeys 
and  mules  often  wear  waistbands  and  trousers. 

Let  us  take  a  walk  throue:h  the  citv.     It  is  laid  out  in 


6o  SOUTH  AMERICA 

squares  and  runs  for  about  two  miles  along  the  shores  of 
the  river.  The  streets  are  paved  with  asphalt  or  blocks 
of  gray  stone.  Many  of  them  are  lined  with  trees,  and 
there  are  beautiful  parks  in  which  we  can  rest  under  the 
shade  of  the  palms.  The  town  has  some  large  buildings, 
but  most  of  the  houses  are  of  one  or  two  stories,  made  in 
such  a  way  as  to  withstand  the  earthquakes  which  are 
common  in  Ecuador. 

We  stop  for  a  moment  before  a  house  in  the  process  of 
building.  The  dark-skinned  carpenters  are  naiUng  bamboo 
laths  on  the  framework  of  the  structure  and  covering  them 
with  a  thin  coat  of  plaster.  That  is  to  be  the  outside  of 
the  house.  When  finished  it  will  look  as  though  it  were 
made  of  brick  or  stone  covered  with  stucco,  but  in  fact  it 
will  be  so  thin  that  one  could  easily  ram  a  hole  through 
it  with  a  fence  rail.  See  how  the  beams  and  rafters  are 
made  in  sections  and  fitted  together  so  that  they  will  give 
and  not  break  if  an  earthquake  occurs.  Heavy  buildings 
might  fall  at  such  times,  but  these  hght  structures  rock  to 
and  fro  and  do  not  come  down. 

Guayaquil  is  one  of  the  best  ports  on  the  west  coast  of 
South  America.  It  is  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles 
from  Panama.  It  lies  on  the  Guayas,  the  only  navigable 
river  which  flows  into  the  Pacific  Ocean  between  San 
Francisco  and  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  The  river  is  a  mile 
wide  where  it  faces  the  city,  and  so  deep  that  it  furnishes 
a  safe  harbor  for  large  ocean  steamers.  The  port  is  sixty 
miles  inland,  and  the  Guayas  forms  a  waterway  to  much 
of  the  lowland  which  borders  the  coast.  We  find  the 
stream  filled  with  shipping  and  see  many  dugouts  and 
cargo  boats  which  have  brought  in  cacao,  cane  sugar,  and 
ivory  nuts  for  export. 

There  is  a  railroad  which  goes  from  Guayaquil  up  the 


A  LAND   OF  THE  EQUATOR  6l 

Andes  to  Quito.  The  distance  is  two  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  miles,  and  the  trip  can  be  made  in  less  than 
two  days.  There  are  also  many  mountain  trails  down  which 
goods  are  brought  to  the  port.  There  are  little  steamers 
which  will  take  us  up  the  Guayas  River  almost  to  the 
foot  of  the  mountains,  and  we  can  go  from  there  to  Quito 
across  country  by  mules.  We  shall  travel  that  way  in 
order  to  study  the  lowlands  and  learn  about  the  highlands 
as  we  climb  up  through  the  passes  to  the  Andean  plateau. 

We  leave  Guayaquil  at  night  on  a  small  steamer  and 
awake  to  find  ourselves  moving  in  and  out  among  little 
frame  houses  built  high  upon  piles  surrounded  by  water. 
It  is  the  rainy  season  in  Ecuador  and  the  low  coast  lands 
are  flooded.  The  people  are  now  living  as  high  above  the 
ground  as  the  second  stories  of  our  houses  at  home,  but 
their  buildings  seem  to  be  floating.  We  see  them  going 
from  hut  to  hut  in  canoes.  There  are  marketmen  rowing 
about ;  the  schoolhouse  is  on  piles,  and  we  see  children  in 
boats  being  paddled  to  school. 

This  town  is  Bodegas  (bo-dag'as) ,  the  head  of  navigation 
of  the  Guayas.  Only  a  small  part  of  it  is  on  the  mainland, 
and  this  is  half  flooded.  The  street  crossings  of  that 
section  are  bridged  with  logs,  and  the  people  have  to  hug 
the  walls  and  step  upon  blocks  in  getting  from  one  store 
to  another  along  the  side  streets. 

Many  of  the  houses  are  far  out  in  the  river.  The  smaller 
ones  have  only  one  room.  They  are  made  of  poles  covered 
with  palm  leaves,  and  are  reached  by  ladders  from  the  water. 
Let  us  take  a  canoe  and  visit  one  of  them.  The  owner 
makes  us  welcome,  and  we  sit  down  on  a  block  on  the  fioor, 
holding  ourselves  rather  gingerly  for  fear  the  floor  may 
break  through  and  drop  us  into  the  water.  See,  the  floor 
is  made  of  bamboo  canes  with  wide  cracks  between  them. 


62  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  women  do  not  need  to  sweep,  for  the  dirt  fafls  through 
into  the  river,  or  to  the  ground  when  the  stream  has  gone 
down. 

Notice  that  clay  pot  resting  on  the  fire  in  the  box  over 
there.  That  is  the  cook  stove  of  the  family.  These  people 
use  charcoal  for  fuel.  They  live  largely  upon  sweet  potatoes 
or  yams,  plantains  or  large  bananas,  and  a  potato-like 
tuber  called  the  yucca.  They  are  fond  of  rice,  and  eat 
a  great  deal  of  beef  dried  in  the  sun. 

Leaving  Bodegas,  we  start  out  for  a  trip  through  the 
lowlands  before  climbing  the  Andes.  We  ride  for  miles 
in  canoes  among  the  trees  of  the  tropical  forest,  stopping 
to  gather  the  orchids  and  other  beautiful  flowers  with  which 
they  are  loaded.  Now  monkeys  make  faces  at  us  out  of 
the  branches,  and  now  a  bright-colored  parrot  scolds  as 
we  go  on  our  way.  We  frequently  see  alligators  which  swim 
lazily  off  into  the  bushes,  and  now  and  then  take  a  shot 
at  one,  but  the  beast  dives  at  the  sound  and  we  cannot  tell 
whether  we  have  hit  him  or  not. 

In  the  more  elevated  country  we  see  cacao  plantations 
and  tagua  palm  trees  which  look  like  gigantic  ferns  with 
green  balls  of  fruit  as  large  as  our  heads.  The  fruit  of  the 
tagua  is  in  bunches  at  the  base  of  the  leaves.  It  looks  like 
an  enormous  chestnut  bur,  but  it  is  really  a  palm  bur  eight 
or  ten  inches  thick  containing  a  dozen  or  more  nuts  as  big 
as  the  fist  of  a  small  baby,  which,  when  green,  are  filled 
with  a  soft  jelly-like  substance  tasting  not  unlike  coconut 
milk.  When  the  nuts  grow  ripe  they  become  as  hard  as 
bone.  They  are  then  gathered  and  shipped  to  different 
parts  of  the  world  to  be  used  as  vegetable  ivory.  The 
kernel  of  the  nut  has  a  texture  very  much  like  elephant 
ivory.  It  is  so  hard  that  it  can  be  sawed,  carved,  and 
turned  into  all  sizes  and  shapes.     It  is  white,  but  it  can 


Ivory  nuts.     The  fruit  of   the    tagua  palm  furnishes   material  from 
which  millions  of  buttons  are  made. 

63 


64  SOUTH  .\JVIERICA 

be  dyed  and  ii  takes  a  most  beautiful  polish.  The  tagua 
tree  is  found  also  in  Colombia  and  Panama. 

It  is  from  such  nuts  that  many  of  our  buttons  are  made. 
Ecuador  exports  more  of  the  nuts  than  any  other  part 
of  the  earth,  and  the  United  States  buys  over  twenty  million 
pounds  of  them  every  year.  We  have  over  a  score  of 
vegetable  ivory  factories  and  they  turn  out  bushels  of 
buttons  a  week. 

There  is  another  palm  in  this  region  which  supplies  large 
quantities  of  goods  for  export  to  the  United  States.  This 
is  the  planta  de  toquila  (to-ke'la),  from  the  leaves  of  which 
comes  the  fine  straw  for  making  Panama  hats.  The  tree 
grows  wild  in  this  hot,  humid  region,  and  the  hatmakers 
go  about  and  gather  the  leaves,  which  they  tear  apart  into 
the  fibers  used  for  weaving.  Thousands  of  women  and 
children  are  engaged  in  this  work.  The  finest  hats  are 
woven  under  water,  as  the  straw  becomes  brittle  when 
exposed  to  the  sun. 

The  most  beautiful  hats  take  a  long  time  to  make,  and 
they  sometimes  sell  for  as  much  as  one  hundred  dollars 
apiece.  The  children  can  weave  two  of  the  cheapest 
grade  of  hats  in  one  day.  The  hats  are  called  Panamas 
because  they  were  formerly  sent  to  Panama  and  thence 
shipped  to  New  York.  They  are  made  in  Colombia, 
Ecuador,  and  Peru ;  but  the  most  and  the  best  come  from- 
Ecuador. 

Ecuador  exports  rubber  from  the  wild  trees  of  its  lowlands 
and  also  some  coft'ee,  famous  for  its  fine  flavor.  The 
country  is  supposed  to  have  deposits  of  gold,  silver,  copper, 
and  petroleum,  but  they  are  but  little  developed.  The 
trade  of  Ecuador  with  the  United  States  has  increased 
enormously  since  the  Panama  Canal  was  built.  Cacao 
is  the  chief  export,  amounting  often  to  one  hundred  million 


Finished  hat 


Genuine  Panama  hats  are  made  from  the  leaves  of  the  loquila  pahii. 

6S 


66  SOUTH  AMERICA 

pounds  in  one  year.  We  buy  most  of  its  rubber,  ivory 
nuts,  and  cacao,  and  sell  to  it  machinery,  railway  supplies, 
cotton  and  woolen  goods,  and  foodstuffs. 


oXKc 


IX.   CLIMBING   THE   ANDES   TO   QUITO 

WE  have  left  the  lowlands  of  Ecuador  and  are  on  our 
mules  climbing  the  great  mountain  wall  of  the 
Andes.  The  road  is  so  narrow  in  places  that  we  go  single 
file,  and  often  so  steep  that  we  fear  we  may  slip  off  behind. 
We  ford  many  streams,  making  our  way  in  and  out  through 
the  bowlders  and  throwing  our  legs  high  on  the  necks  of 
the  mules  to  keep  our  feet  out  of  the  water.  Now  we  ride 
along  narrow  ledges,  shuddering  to  think  what  would 
happen  if  the  animals  should  shp  in  the  mud  and  slide  off 
into  the  deep  canon  below.  The  going  is  worse  farther 
up  and  we  heartily  agree  with  the  natives,  who  say  their 
roads  are  for  birds  rather  than  men. 

As  we  ascend  the  air  becomes  fresher  and  cooler.  The 
coffee  and  cacao  trees  have  now  disappeared.  We  have 
left  the  tropical  forests,  and  we  are  in  a  region  of  less 
luxuriant  vegetation.  The  trees  and  plants  continue  to 
change  as  we  rise.  They  grow  smaller,  and  at  last  we  are 
so  far  above  the  sea  that  there  are  no  trees  at  all. 

How  cold  the  wind  is !  We  shiver  under  the  blankets 
in  the  rude  huts  where  we  stay  overnight,  and  are  very 
uncomfortable.  Our  beds  are  wooden  platforms  which 
seem  to  seek  out  every  bone  in  our  bodies.  We  are  tor- 
mented with  insects,  and  the  chickens  and  dogs  run  in  and 
out  of  the  rooms  where  we  are  trying  to  sleep. 

Still  farther  on  we  reach  a  plain  which  is  higher  in  the 


CLIMBING   THE   ANDES  TO   QUITO 


67 


air  than  the  top  of  Pikes  Peak.  It  is  covered  with  sand, 
and  the  wind  almost  blows  us  off  our  mules  as  we  ride  over 
it.  This  is  the  Arenal,  the  pass  of  the  Andes  through  which 
we  enter  the  high  central  valley  where  most  of  the  people 


MuuiiiiUii   iiail  ill  LlluuIui-.     Alu.-^t  of  the  pcujiU  ul  Ecuador  live 
on  high  plateaus,  many  of  which  can  be  reached  only  by  trails 

like  this. 


of  Ecuador  live.     Ecuador  is  situated  in  the  torrid  zone, 
but  it  has  all  kinds  of  climates. 

Now  we  have  gone  over  the  pass  and,  descending  a  little, 
are  soon  on  our  way  up  the  valley  toward  Quito.  We  are 
almost  two  miles  above  the  sea,  with  some  of  the  highest 


68  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  the  Andes  in  sight.  Over  there  is  Chimborazo  (chim-bo- 
ra'zo) ,  its  snowy  peak  kissing  the  sky  more  than  four  miles 
above  Guayaquil ;  and  on  each  side  of  us,  walling  the 
valley,  as  far  as  our  eyes  can  reach,  are  mountains,  many  of 
which  are  almost  as  high. 

This  wide  valley  extends  from  north  to  south  throughout 
Ecuador.  It  has  been  called  an  avenue  walled  with 
volcanoes.  Some  of  the  many  craters  are  active,  and  we 
can  see  the  steam  rising  in  clouds  from  them  as  we  ride  by. 
Earthquakes  are  frequent,  and  the  houses  are  built  to  with- 
stand them. 

The  high  valley  of  Ecuador  is  where  most  of  the  people 
live.  It  is  a  rich  farming  region  with  crops  similar  to  those 
of  our  northern  states.  We  ride  by  fields  of  potatoes, 
barley,  and  wheat,  passing  orchards,  gardens,  and  green 
pastures  on  which  cattle  are  feeding.  We  go  from  one 
town  to  another  until  we  come  to  Ambato  (am-ba'to),  a 
thriving  httle  city  in  the  heart  of  the  Andes  and  a  center  of 
trade  for  east  Ecuador.  The  town  was  destroyed  more 
than  two  hundred  years  ago  by  the  eruption  of  the  vol- 
cano of  Cotopaxi  (ko-to-pak'se).  The  mountain  is  now 
smoking,  and  we  tremble  a  little  as  we  pass  it  on  our  way 
up  the  valley. 

Ambato  is  a  station  on  the  railway  from  Guayaquil  to 
Quito.  We  take  the  train  here  and  ride  all  day  through 
the  high  valley,  stopping  a  while  at  Latacunga  (la-ta- 
koon'ga),  between  the  volcanoes  of  Cotopaxi  and' Chim- 
borazo, and  arriving  at  Quito  late  in  the  evening. 

We  are  now  in  the  highest  capital  of  the  world,  with  the 
exception  of  Lassa,  the  capital  of  Thibet  in  the  Himalaya 
Mountains.  Quito  is  two  thousand  feet  higher  than  the 
capital  of  Mexico  and  about  seven  hundred  feet  above 
Bogota.     It  is  more  than  a  thousand  feet  above  the  Saint 


Indian  water  carriers  in  Quito.  The  jars  arc  of  burnt  clay.  The 
Roman  Cathohc  church  behind  the  fountain  is  one  of  many  in  the 
city.    Quito  has  eleven   monasteries   and   the   largest   convent   of 

the  world. 
69 


70  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Bernard  pass  in  the  Alps  Mountains,  the  highest  point  in 
Europe  where  men  live  through  the  year,  and  the  place 
where  the  famous  Saint  Bernard  dogs  are  kept  to  hunt  for 
men  lost  in  the  snow.  On  Saint  Bernard  there  is  often  ice 
all  the  year  round.  We  find  no  ice  at  Quito.  The  air  is 
as  warm  as  May  in  our  northern  states,  and  the  climate 
is  perpetual  spring.  The  city  is  almost  on  the  equator, 
but  the  thin,  clear  air  at  that  great  height  so  tempers  the 
heat  of  the  sun  that  the  people  wear  clothing  as  heavy  as 
we  wear  in  the  fall.  We  find  it  cold  morning  and  evening, 
and  shiver  in  the  unheated  houses. 

Indeed,  Quito  is  more  like  a  city  of  the  temperate  zones 
than  any  other  on  the  equator.  It  has  vegetables  the  same 
as  ours,  and  we  see  pears,  grapes,  strawberries,  and  apples 
for  sale  in  the  markets.  The  roses  bloom  all  the  year 
round ;  lilies,  pinks,  and  tuhps  may  be  had  every  month ; 
while  geraniums  continually  make  bright  the  walls  and 
roofs,  and  wild  flowers  cover  the  courtyards  and  ruins. 
How  clear  the  sky  is  and  how  bright  the  sunshine !  This 
is  so  throughout  the  day  except  for  about  two  hours  in 
the  afternoon,  when  it  rains. 

Quito  is  not  large,  but  it  is  about  the  most  interesting 
city  of  all  South  America.  The  capital  of  the  republic 
of  Ecuador,  it  lies  about  one  hundred  and  fourteen  miles 
east  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  a  bowl-shaped  valley  at  the 
foot  of  the  extinct  volcano  Pichincha  (pe-chen'cha),  whose 
snowy  peak  we  see  far  above  us.  Pichincha  is  higher 
than  Mont  Blanc,  but  we  ride  up  to  its  crater  on  mules. 
From  its  summit  we  can  see  twenty  snow-clad  peaks 
ranging  from  three  to  four  miles  in  height. 

Quito  is  crossed  from  east  to  west  by  two  deep  ravines, 
through  which  Pichincha  sends  down  its  currents  of  melted 
snow.     The  streets  run  up  hill  and  down,  crossing  one 


^^^ 

^m        "< 

i 

i 

: 

■•*%     "3v      if      A                                    ^^V 

^^^^^B    ^^B^ 

P    - 

„ "'              -          «■ 

The  Indian  boys  of   iIk-   iVTUNi.ni   Amk-   wrar   1k\i\_\    li.iis  and 
ponchos.     The  knitted  helmets  and  ear  tabs  are  necessary  on  ac- 
count of  the  cold  of  the  high  mountains.     The  wool  of  the  poncho 
comes  from  the  llama. 
71 


72 


CLIMBING  THE  ANDES  TO  QUITO  73 

another  at  right  angles  or  meeting  at  the  plazas  which  are 
found  here  and  there.  The  houses  are  of  the  Spanish 
style,  built  around  courtyards,  with  roofs  coming  out 
over  the  sidewalks,  and  balconies  in  front  of  the  windows. 
None  of  them  is  of  more  than  two  stories.  They  are 
made  of  stone  or  brick  covered  with  stucco  and  roofed 
with  red  tiles.  There  are  many  churches  and  convents, 
and  we  see  priests  going  about  everywhere.  They  wear 
broad-brimmed  black  hats  and  are  clad  in  black  or  white 
gowns. 

The  streets  are  filled  with  traffic.  Long  trains  of  don- 
keys and  mules  loaded  with  goods  move  back  and  forth 
through  them,  and  we  now  and  then  see  llamas  with  loads 
on  their  backs.  There  are  many  Indian  men,  women, 
and  children  carrying  great  burdens,  some  of  them  farmers 
who  are  bringing  vegetables  and  fruit  into  the  city  for 
sale.  There  are  well-to-do  people  dressed  as  we  are,  and 
hundreds  of  Indians  wearing  red  or  yellow  ponchos,  white 
cotton  trousers,  and  broad-brimmed  hats  of  white  felt. 
The  Indians  come  from  different  villages,  and  the  cut  of 
their  hair,  their  hats,  and  their  ponchos  mark  the  locality 
where  they  live.  Each  tribe  is  said  to  have  a  style  of  its 
own.  We  are  interested  in  the  Indian  boys  who  stare  at 
us  as  we  go  by. 

Ecuador  has  many  Indians,  and  most .  of  the  whites 
have,  we  are  told,  more  or  less  Indian  blood  in  their  veins. 
Over  two  thirds  of  the  population  belongs  to  the  red  race, 
and  the  majority  of  them  are  only  half  civilized.  They 
have  small  farms,  or  work  for  the  whites  and  the  mixed 
race  of  Spaniards  and  Indians.  These  people  were  ruled 
by  the  Incas,  of  whom  we  shall  learn  more  in  Peru,  and  they 
had  civilized  ways  when  the  Spaniards  first  came.  They 
had  covered  this  high  valley  with  their  villages  and  they 


74  SOUTH  AMERICA 

had  many  cities,  one  of  the  largest  of  which  was  old  Quito, 
situated  where  we  are  now.  Old  Quito  was  a  much  larger 
city  than  the  present  capital  of  Ecuador.  Its  exact  size 
is  not  known,  but  Atahualpa  (a-ta-hwal'pa),  the  Inca 
monarch  who  lived  here,  had  a  palace  roofed  with  gold, 
and  there  were  many  fine  houses.  When  Pizarro,  the 
Spanish  conqueror,  came  he  killed  Atahualpa  and  en- 
slaved his  Indian  subjects.  He  was  followed  by  other 
Spaniards,  some  of  whom  intermarried  with  the  Indians, 
and  the  descendants  of  those  people  are  the  ruling  classes 
of  Ecuador  to-day. 

These  Indians  form  the  working  people  of  the  country. 
They  till  the  soil.  They  are  the  water  carriers  of  the 
cities.  They  carry  boxes  of  goods  on  their  backs  up 
and  down  the  mountains  and  do  all  kinds  of  hard 
labor  for  very  small  pay.  Many  of  them  are  practically 
slaves.  They  are  not  thrifty  and  get  in  debt  to  their 
masters,  who  can  then  force  them  to  work  until  the  debt 
is  paid.  Such  debts  often  last  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. The  Indians  seem  to  have  no  ambition  to  better 
themselves.  All  one  wants  is  a  mud  or  stone  hut,  a  suit 
or  two  of  cotton  clothes,  a  little  rice  and  meat  for  food, 
and  enough  money  to  have  a  feast  now  and  then. 

In  addition  to  these  semi-ci\'ilized  Indians  of  the  Andes 
there  are  some  from  the  eastern  lowlands  who  are  barbarous 
and  others  who  are  savages.  In  Quito  we  see  many  who 
have  chmbed  up  from  the  wilds  bringing  tropical  fruits, 
rubber,  and  other  things  to  the  markets.  There  are 
Indians  from  the  Napo  River  who  sometimes  use  blowguns 
and  poisoned  arrows,  and  there  are  others  who  make 
blankets  and  skirts  from  the  bark  of  trees.  They  show 
us  this  bark  cloth  and  we  buy  pieces  to  take  home.  It 
is  more  like  felt  than  cloth. 


CLIMBING  THE  ANDES  TO  QUITO  75 

Among  the  Indians  of  Ecuador  is  a  tribe  of  head  hunters 
who  have  a  practice  of  curing  the  heads  of  the  enemies 
they  kill.  They  cut  off  the  head,  remove  the  bones,  and 
fill  the  skin  with  hot  pebbles  to  dry  it.  As  it  shrinks  they 
keep  pressing  it  inward  on  all  sides  so  carefully  that  it 
keeps  its  shape  and  has  the  same  features  as  when  in  hfe, 
although  it  may  be  no  bigger  than  a  man's  fist.  The 
heads  are  then  baked  in  the  sand,  after  which  they  will 
last  for  years. 

Formerly  such  heads  were  sometimes  offered  for  sale 
to  travelers,  but  the  government  has  now  forbidden  the 
practice  and  any  Indian  caught  with  a  dried  human  head 
is  punished. 

There  is  a  university  in  Quito,  and  public  schools  of 
various  kinds  here  and  there  throughout  the  country. 
We  can  usually  tell  where  the  schools  are,  for  the  pupils 
study  out  loud,  making  such  a  din  they  can  be  heard  a 
long  distance.  We  learn,  however,  that  many  of  the  chil- 
dren do  not  attend  school,  and  that  but  few  of  the  people 
can  read.  This  condition  will  probably  pass  away.  The 
government  is  introducing  modern  education,  and  the 
country  is  slowly  improving  in  civilization,  in  commerce, 
and  in  wealth.  It  has  now  several  railroads,  including 
the  one  from  Guayaquil  up  the  Andes,  and  others  are 
planned.  We  return  from  Quito  to  the  seacoast  by  train, 
riding  for  two  days  through  the  high  valley  and  down  the 
slope  of  the  Andes. 

1.  Trace  our  route  from  Colombia  through  Ecuador. 

2.  Where  does  Ecuador  get  its  name?  What  countries  adjoin  it? 
What  state  of  ours  is  nearest  it  in  size?  Compare  it  in  size  and 
population  with  Colombia,  Peru,  Chile.  Describe  its  three  regions 
according  to  climate.  Why  do  most  of  the  people  live  in  the 
highlands  ? 


76  SOUTH   AMERICA 

3.  Why  is  Guayaquil  the  best  port  ?  How  far  is  it  from  Panama? 
From  New  York?     Describe  a  walk  through  its  streets. 

4.  Of  what  city  of  Italy  does  Bodegas  remind  us?  How  do  the 
children  go  to  school  during  the  rainy  season? 

5.  Describe  our  journey  through  the  lowlands. 

6.  Why  might  Ecuador  be  called  the  "  Button  Country  "  ?  Follow 
an  ivory  nut  from  the  tagua  tree  to  its  place  on  your  clothing.  Let 
the  button  tell  the  story.  (See  Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is 
Clothed,"  chapter  41.) 

7.  How  are  Panama  hats  made?  (See  Carpenter's  "How  the 
World  is  Clothed,"  chapter  30.)  Mention  other  things  we  get  from 
Ecuador.     What  does  Ecuador  buy  of  us? 

8.  Tell  the  story  of  your  trip  over  the  Andes.  Compare  the 
high  plain  of  the  Andes  with  our  western  highlands. 

9.  Locate  Quito  on  the  map.  How  far  is  it  from  Guayaquil? 
Visit  the  city  and  tell  what  you  see.  How  high  above  the  sea  is 
your  home  ?  How  many  feet  would  it  have  to  be  lifted  to  be  as 
high  as  Quito.  Find  out  about  the  other  high  capitals  of  the 
world,  Mexico  City,  Lassa,  and  Bogota.  (See  Carpenter's  "North 
America"  and  "Asia.") 

10.  Tell  what  you  know  about  a  volcano  —  an  earthquake. 
What  famous  volcano  is  in  Europe?  In  North  America?  Compare 
Quito  with  Naples.  (See  Carpenter's  "Europe"  and  "North 
America.") 

11.  Describe  the  semi-civilized  Indians  of  the  highlands  and  the 
savages  of  eastern  Ecuador.  Contrast  both  with  our  North 
American  Indians. 


X.     IN   THE   GREAT   SOUTH  AMERICAN 
DESERT 

WE  have  left  Ecuador  and  steamed  several  hundred 
miles  southward  along  the  coast  of  Peru.  The 
country  is  one  fourth  as  large  as  the  United  States ;  but 
much  of  it  is  mountains  and  desert,  and  the  eastern  part, 
which  slopes  from  the  Andes  to  the  Amazon  valley,  is  wild 
and  almost  unexplored.     There  the  population  is  scanty, 


IN   THE   GREAT   SOUTH   AMERICAN    DESERT       77 

being  composed  chiefly  of  the  savage  Indians  who  Hve  in 
the  forest.  The  most  thickly  peopled  sections  are  the  high- 
lands and  the  snow-water  oases  along  the  streams  that 
flow  from  the  Andes  over  the  desert  out  to  the  ocean. 


Principal  Railroads 


We  are  now  in  the  midst  of  the  South  American  desert 
which  borders  the  Pacific  Ocean,  extending  from  Ecuador 
through  Peru  almost  to  Valparaiso  (val-pa-ra-e'so)  in  Chile. 
It  is  one  of  the  great  deserts  of  the  world,  and  compares  in 


78 


IN  THE   GREAT  SOUTH  AMERICAN  DESERT        79 

some  of  its  features  with  Sahara  in  Africa,  Arabia  and  Gobi 
in  Asia,  and  the  wild  wastes  of  central  and  western  Australia. 
The  desert  begins  at  the  sea  and  runs  back  into  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Andes,  gradually  rising.  It  is  over  two  thou- 
sand miles  long,  reaching  as  far  as  from  New  York  to  Salt 
Lake  City,  and  its  average  width  is  only  about  forty  miles. 
Sailing  by  it,  as  far  as  one  can  see  there  is  nothing  but 
sand,  sand,  sand.  On  the  east  the  thirsty  foothills  of  the 
Andes  rise  and  lose  themselves  in  gray  rocky  mountains, 
which,  piled  one  above  another,  end  in  perpetual  snow. 
On  the  west  are  the  sparkling  waters  of  the  Pacific,  casting 
their  silvery  spray  on  the  beach.  The  air  is  cool  and  dry, 
but  the  sand  is  so  dazzling  under  the  rays  of  the  sun  that  we 
shield  our  eyes  with  smoked  spectacles  to  keep  out  the  glare. 

In  the  lowlands  of  Ecuador  the  soil  was  black  and  moist, 
and  the  tropical  vegetation  so  thick  that  we  had  to  chop 
our  way,  a  foot  at  a  time,  to  get  through.  Here  we  can 
gallop  on  our  horses  for  miles  without  seeing  a  tree,  a  flower, 
or  a  blade  of  grass. 

Now  we  pass  queerly  shaped  hills  which  seem  to  be 
moving  on  toward  the  north.  They  are  the  traveling 
sand  dunes  of  Peru.  They  are  all  shaped  like  new  moons, 
but  they  vary  in  size.  Some  are  so  small  that  they  could 
be  put  into  a  schoolroom  and  others  so  large  that  they 
contain  hundreds  of  tons  of  this  moving  sand. 

But  can  a  hill  travel  ?  Come  to  one  of  the  sand  mounds 
and  see.  The  winds,  which  here  blow  almost  always  in 
the  same  direction,  roll  the  Httle  grains  of  the  pile  over 
one  another,  so  that  they  move  up  the  outside  of  the  crescent 
and  roll  down  on  the  inside,  keeping  the  hill  of  the  same 
shape,  but  slowly  shoving  it  onward. 

The  traveling  sand  swallows  everything  in  its  way.  It 
covers  the  bridle  paths,  which  are  the  only  roads  of  the 


8o  SOUTH  AMERICA 

desert,  and  for  this  reason  we  dare  not  go  without  a  guide, 
who  directs  our  course  by  the  stars  at  night  and  by  the 
winds  during  the  day. 

Now  we  see  a  flock  of  vultures  picking  at  the  bones  of 
animals  which  have  perished  of  thirst  in  the  desert,  and 
perhaps  the  skull  of  a  traveler  who  has  been  lost  and  has 
died  here.  Now  and  then  we  behold  a  condor,  the  biggest 
bird  that  flies,  circHng  high  in  the  air  above  us,  making 
a  moving  shadow  on  the  plain ;  but  for  most  of  the  time 
there  is  nothing  but  sand  and  rock  and  sea. 

Is  it  not  a  wonderful  region  ?  Yes ;  but  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  it  cannot  be  otherwise  when  we  think  just  where 
it  is,  and  how  it  is  affected  by  winds  and  the  mountains, 
which  we  know  have  much  to  do  with  causing  the  rains. 

The  prevailing  winds  that  sweep  over  this  part  of  South 
America  come  from  the  east.  Starting  from  the  shores 
of  Africa,  as  they  cross  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  they  fill 
with  water  so  that  when  they  reach  the  coast  of  Brazil 
they  are  loaded.  As  they  go  on  over  the  land,  they  are 
cooled  and  drop  a  large  part  of  the  burden  in  the  rains  that 
feed  the  great  rivers  of  eastern  South  America,  and  cover 
the  land  with  tropical  verdure. 

They  drop  more  and  more  water  as  they  climb  the  eastern 
slopes  of  the  Andes,  so  that  when  they  have  reached  the 
top  almost  all  of  their  moisture  has  disappeared,  and  what 
is  left  falls  there  as  snow.  The  winds  then  sweep  on  down 
to  the  Pacific.  They  are  now  so  dry  that  they  have  not 
a  drop  left  for  the  coast.  The  result  is  this  arid  region 
upon  which  rain  seldom  falls. 

And  are  there  no  oases  in  this  mighty  desert  ?  Yes ; 
here  and  there,  at  wide  distances  apart,  are  little  rivers 
fed  by  the  melting  snows  of  the  Andes.  In  the  whole  two 
thousand  miles  of  sand  there  are  about  forty  such  streams, 


IN  THE   GREAT  SOUTH  AMERICAN  DESERT       8i 

and  along  them  arc  the  river  oases,  the  only  places  in  the 
desert  where  people  live.  It  is  in  these  oases  that  Lima 
(le'ma),  the  capital  of  Peru,  Callao  (kal-ya'o),  its  chief  port, 
and  other  principal  cities  arc  located,  and  here  are  some 
of  the  best  farm  lands  of  Peru.  The  soil  of  the  desert  is 
fertile,  and  if  it  can  have  water  it  will  produce  almost 
any  kind  of  crops.  We  ride  out  of  the  sands  into  irri- 
gated fields,  and  are  surprised  at  the  rich  plantations  of 
sugar  cane,  rice,  tobacco,  and  cotton  growing  in  these 
valley  oases,  with  nothing  but  dry  sand  all  about  them. 

We  come  upon  vineyards  in  which  deUcious  grapes  hang 
from  the  vines,  and  we  slake  our  thirst  with  the  oranges 
we  pick  from  the  trees.  There  are  no  better  fruit  lands 
anywhere  than  the  irrigated  valleys  of  this  sandy  region. 
Bananas,  oranges,  limes,  and  lemons  grow  side  by  side 
with  peaches  and  pears,  and  there  are  luscious  cherries, 
plums,  dates,  and  figs.  There  are  watermelons  and 
muskmelons,  guavas  and  mangoes,  and  also  papayas  and 
alligator  pears.  The  papaya  is  as  large  as  a  muskmelon 
and  grows  on  a  tree ;  the  alligator  pear,  which  is  much 
smaller,  comes  from  a  tree  of  the  laurel  family.  The 
papaya  is  sweet,  and  it  aids  in  digestion ;  the  aUigator 
pear  tastes  like  fresh  butter  and  is  eaten  with  salt.  We 
find  fruit  for  sale  in  every  market.  We  can  buy  all  we  can 
eat  for  a  very  few  cents. 

The  farms  are  divided  into  small  fields  fenced  with 
thick  walls  of  mud  as  high  as  one's  waist,  and  are  covered 
with  a  network  of  ditches  to  water  the  crops.  In  the 
north  we  go  from  the  port  of  Paita  (pi'ta)  through  the 
oases  of  the  Piura  (pyoo'ra)  valley  where  there  are 
irrigated  fields  of  red  or  brown  cotton.  Here  the  plants 
bloom  throughout  the  year,  and  we  see  many  that  have 
buds,  blossoms,  and  bolls  at  the  same  time.     The  best  of 


82  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  cotton  is  from  plants  only  one  or  two  years  old,  but 
if  allowed  to  grow  longer  they  become  small  trees  and 
will  produce  some  cotton  for  eight  or  ten  years.  Peruvian 
cotton  brings  the  highest  price  in  the  market.  It  has  long 
libers  somewhat  like  wool,  and  it  is  used  by  the  manufac- 
turers of  hats,  stockings,  and  underclothes  to  mix  with 
wool  to  render  the  articles  less  liable  to  shrink.  We  im- 
port a  great  deal  for  that  reason. 

In  the  irrigated  valleys  farther  south  we  see  many  sugar 
estates.  They  look  much  like  our  fields  of  Indian  corn. 
The  cane  is  planted  in  rows,  and  it  comes  up  so  luxuriantly 
that  in  the  distance  the  fields  seem  a  mass  of  beautiful 
green.  Most  of  the  plantations  are  large  and  well  worked. 
Some  of  the  richer  farmers  use  gasoline  tractors,  gang 
plows,  and  harrows,  and  the  cane  is  hauled  to  the  mills 
upon  little  railroads. 

The  ordinary  farming,  however,  is  done  in  the  rudest 
way.  The  fields  are  cultivated  with  oxen  yoked  by  their 
horns  to  plows  which  do  little  more  than  scratch  the 
ground  as  they  are  dragged  over  it.  The  large  estates 
belong  to  the  rich  whites  or  people  of  the  mixed  race  of 
Spaniards  and  Indians.  The  laborers  are  the  Indians,  or 
peons,  as  they  are  often  called.  They  receive  low  wages 
but  seem  to  be  satisfied.  They  are  ignorant  and  but  few 
know  how  to  read. 

See  that  group  in  the  field  over  there !  They  are  as 
brown  as  our  Indians  and  they  have  the  same  high  cheek 
bones.  They  wear  high  broad-brimmed  hats  of  dirty 
white  straw,  and  the  women  and  children  are  barefooted. 
The  men  wear  leather  sandals.  The  wofnen  have  on  short 
dresses  with  rebosas  (ra-bo'sas)  around  their  shoulders. 
The  men  wear  bright-colored  ponchos  and  wide  white 
pantaloons  which  flap  around  their  legs. 


IN  THE   GREAT  SOUTH   AMERICAN   DESERT       83 

We  shall  see  ponchos  and  rebosas  nearly  everywhere  on 
the  west  coast  of  the  continent.  The  poncho  is  a  woolen 
blanket  as  large  as  a  bedspread.  It  has  a  hole  in  the 
middle,  and  one  sticks  his  head  through  the  hole  and  allows 
the  folds  to  come  down  over  his  shoulders.  It  looks 
picturesque  and  is  both  warm  and  comfortable.  The 
rebosa  is  a  long  black  shawl  large  enough  to  cover  the 
shoulders  and  at  the  same  time  be  wrapped  around  the 
head. 

Let  us  enter  the  hut  of  a  peon  and  see  how  he  lives.  The 
hut  is  of  cane,  and  we  can  see  out  on  all  sides  through  the 
cracks  in  the  walls.  The  floor  is  the  ground,  and  the  roof 
is  of  reeds,  for  it  is  needed  only  to  keep  out  the  sun,  there 
being  no  danger  of  rain  in  the  desert.  The  house  has  but 
one  room  and  is  not  so  large  as  many  a  room  in  our  houses 
at  home. 

Where  is  the  furniture?  It  seems  as  if  the  people  had 
moved,  for  there  is  not  much  to  be  seen.  There  in  the 
corner  is  a  wooden  platform  as  high  as  one's  knee.  That 
is  the  sleeping  place  for  the  father  and  mother.  The 
children  lie  on  the  floor.  There  are  no  mattresses,  blankets, 
or  quilts.  The  peon  wears  at  night  the  same  clothing  as 
during  the  day,  the  little  ones  huddUng  together  to  keep 
warm  when  the  weather  is  cold. 

Look  at  the  opposite  corner.  See  those  two  stones  with 
the  earthen  pot  on  them.  That  is  the  cooking  stove  of 
the  family.  In  preparing  the  meals  a  fire  is  placed  under 
it,  and  thus  the  stew  of  goat's  meat  and  rice,  the  most 
common  dish,  is  cooked.  The  house  has  no  other  fur- 
niture and  neither  chimneys  nor  windows.  This  Indian 
has  a  few  chickens  and  goats.  You  can  see  them  feeding 
outside  the  hut.  At  night  he  will  bring  them  indoors,  and 
animals  and  family  will  sleep  together. 


84  SOUTH  AMERICA 

We  shall  find  such  Indians  all  over  Peru,  although  their 
houses  and  clothes  are  warmer  in  the  cold  mountains. 
They  are  of  the  same  race  as  those  we  saw  in  the  highlands 
of  Ecuador.  They  were  ruled  by  the  Incas,  and  we  can 
hardly  realize  that  they  once  owned  this  whole  country, 
and  were  more  civilized  in  some  ways  than  their  descendants 
are  now.  The  ruins  of  the  ancient  cities  and  villages  are 
still  to  be  seen,  and  there  are  many  e\adences  that  the 
Indians  once  farmed  a  vast  territory  which  is  now  only 
desert  and  waste.  They  knew  how  to  irrigate  the  soil. 
They  even  cultivated  the  hillsides  of  the  Andes,  and  we 
shall  see  terraces  high  in  the  mountains  that  they  built 
up  with  earth  to  raise  crops. 

These  Indians  were  once  a  rich  people,  and  their  rulers 
really  did  have  dishes  of  gold.  It  is  said  that  the  Spaniards 
took  out  of  one  of  their  temples  as  much  gold  as  forty-two 
horses  could  haul  at  one  time,  and  about  twice  that  weight 
in  silver.  The  silver  nails  of  another  temple  weighed 
twenty- two  thousand  ounces,  and  silver  was  so  plentiful 
that  when  the  horses  of  the  invaders  needed  new  shoes 
they  were  shod  with  that  precious  white  metal. 

The  leader  of  the  Spaniards  who  invaded  and  con- 
quered Peru  was  Pizarro.  We  can  see  his  dried  body  in 
its  glass  coffin  in  the  cathedral  at  Lirna.  About  eight 
years  after  Balboa  discovered  the  Pacific,  Pizarro  began 
to  explore  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  and  after 
several  years  reached  the  Gulf  of  Guayaquil,  and  some 
years  later  entered  Peru  with  his  soldiers.  He  had  only 
one  hundred  and  two  foot  soldiers,  sixty-two  horsemen, 
and  two  small  cannon,  but  with  this  force  he  met  the  Inca 
king,  Atahualpa,  and  by  treachery  was  able  to  conquer 
him.  He  asked  the  king  to  take  supper  with  him  in  his 
fortress  and  then  closed  the  gates  and  killed  the  Indian 


IN  LIMA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF   PERU  85 

attendants.  The  Indians  were  then  without  a  leader, 
and  they  were  so  frightened  by  the  norses  and  cannon, 
and  so  filled  with  fear  that  Pizarro  would  kill  the  king^ 
that  the  Spaniards  were  able  to  defeat  them.  After  that 
Pizarro  kept  Atahualpa  in  prison,  but  promised  to  release 
him  if  his  subjects  would  fill  with  gold  the  room  in  which 
he  was  chained,  from  the  floor  to  a  mark  on  the  wall  as  high 
as  a  man  could  reach.  Atahualpa  sent  messengers  out 
over  the  land  to  carry  the  promise  to  his  people,  and  this 
vast  amount  of  gold  was  brought  in.  Pizarro  accepted 
the  gold  and  then  refused  to  carry  out  his  agreement. 
He  condemned  the  Inca  king  to  death  and  had  him  strangled 
with  a  silk  cord  in  sight  of  his  people. 

It  was  by  such  methods  that  the  Spaniards  became 
masters  of  all  western  South  America.  They  treated  the 
Indians  with  the  greatest  cruelty.  They  made  slaves  of 
them,  forcing  them  to  work  in  the  mines.  They  used  them 
so  badly  that  many  died,  and  to-day  Peru,  with  both  white 
people  and  the  Indians,  has  not  so  many  inhabitants  as 
when  the  white  men  first  came.  y* 


oi*;o 


XL     IN   LIMA,   THE    CAPITAL   OF   PERU 

LIMA,  the  capital  of  Peru,  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  ot^ 
our  hemisphere.  It  was  founded  by  Pizarro  just  one 
hundred  years  before  Boston  was  started,  and  it  is  now 
a  thriving  city  with  electric  street  cars,  electric  lights,  and 
all  modern  improvements.  Let  us  climb  to  the  roof  of 
our  hotel  and  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  city  before  we 
begin  to  explore  it.  We  are  in  a  vast  field  of  flat  roofs, 
above  which  the  massive  towers  of  great  churches  rise  here 


86 


IN  LIMA,  THE   CAPITAL  OF  PERU  87 

and  there.  At  the  back  are  the  bleak  foothills  of  the  Andes, 
gray  and  forbidding.  There  are  white  masses  of  clouds 
rushing  over  their  sides,  and  the  hills  rise  one  above  the 
other  until  they  lose  themselves  in  the  dark  clouds  higher 
up.  This  morning  the  tops  of  the  Andes  are  hidden. 
On  bright  days  their  snowy  summits,  glistening  in  the 
sunlight,  shine  like  masses  of  silver  high  above  Lima.  We 
are  here  on  the  edge  of  the  foothills,  and  that  wireless 
telegraph  tower  is  about  one  thousand  feet  above  sea 
level.  It  can  send  messages  to  Panama  and  even  across 
the  continent  to  the  coast  of  Brazil. 

Turn  your  eyes  again  to  the  city.  See  that  rushing 
stream  flowing  through  it.  That  is  the  Rimac  (re-mak') 
River,  fed  by  the  melting  snows  of  the  Andes.  It  waters 
this  beautiful  valley  that  makes  the  oasis  of  Lima.  With- 
out it,  all  about  would  be  desert.  It  irrigates  the  large  plan- 
tations of  sugar,  cotton,  and  other  crops  that  extend  from 
here  six  miles  to  the  coast  where  the  river  flows  into  the  sea. 

With  a  glass  we  can  see  the  Pacific.  That  town  on  the 
coast  is  Callao  where  we  landed.  It  is  six  miles  from 
the  capital  and  the  chief  seaport  of  Peru.  That  train  going 
down  through  the  green  fields  is  carrying  passengers  and 
freight  from  Lima  to  the  steamers. 

What  queer  roofs  are  all  about  us !  They  are  more  like 
little  gardens  than  the  coverings  of  houses.  Please  step 
more  hghtly  and  do  not  stamp  your  feet  as  you  walk. 
The  roof  is  trembling  under  us,  and  with  a  little  eflfort  we 
could  push  our  way  through.  The  roof  is  made  of  bamboo 
poles  with  earth  spread  upon  them.  Were  it  not  for  the 
plaster  beneath,  the  dust  would  sift  through  into  the  rooms. 
This  is  so  with  most  of  the  houses  about  us,  the  smaller 
buildings  being  covered  with  canes  upon  which  matting  is 
spread,  and  upon  that  a  layer  of  earth,  sand,  or  ashes. 


88  SOUTH  AJMERICA 

Is  this  not  a  strange  way  to  build  houses?  You  might 
think  all  would  melt  through  if  it  were  to  rain.  Yes,  so  it 
would,  but  we  must  not  forget  where  we  are.  We  are  in 
the  great  desert  of  western  South  America,  where  from 
one  year's  end  to  the  other  rain  seldom  falls.  There  are 
probably  not  a  dozen  umbrellas  in  the  city  below  us,  and 
none  of  the  people  need  waterproofs  or  rubber  shoes. 

Many  of  the  houses  of  Lima  are  constructed  of  mud, 
because  this  is  the  cheapest  of  building  materials.  Not- 
withstanding, the  city  has  a  substantial  appearance.  The 
mud  walls  of  some  of  the  buildings  look  Uke  marble  and 
some  are  painted  to  imitate  granite,  while  others,  of  bright 
colors,  seem  to  be  made  of  brick  covered  with  plaster. 
They  are  in  reahty  nothing  but  mud,  being  made  of  sun- 
dried  brick.  There  are  also  large  buildings  of  stone  and 
burnt  brick,  roofed  with  red  tiles,  for  the  city  is  one  of  the 
finest  along  the  west  coast. 

We  are  surprised  at  the  extent  of  some  of  the  houses. 
They  cover  a  great  deal  of  ground,  but  are  usually  of  only 
one  or  two  stories.  In  the  two-story  buildings  the  first 
story  is  made  of  sun-dried  brick,  the  second  being  a  com- 
bination of  mud  and  bamboo  canes. 

From  the  roof  we  can  see  that  each  of  the  large  buildings 
is  in  the  form  of  a  hollow  square,  with  a  Httle  patio  or 
court  in  the  center.  About  the  court  the  people  sit  at 
night,  this  being  their  favorite  lounging  place.  Many  of 
the  windows  open  on  the  courts,  but  much  of  the  Hght  comes 
from  the  roofs.  Little  dormer  windows  are  built  up  for 
this  purpose  from  nearly  every  one  of  the  houses.  The 
dormers  look  like  chicken  coops,  and,  indeed,  it  is  hard 
to  tell  which  are  the  roof  windows  and  which  are  the  coops. 

Yes,  I  mean  coops  which  contain  chickens.  Don't  you 
see  them  on  the  roofs  all  about  us  ?     Just  over  the  way  the 


IN  LIMA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  PERU  89 

hens  are  putting  their  heads  out  through  the  slats,  and  just 
beyond  a  rooster  is  crowing.  Thousands  of  chickens  are 
raised  on  the  houses  of  Lima.  Chickens  are  hatched,  grow 
up,  lay  eggs,  and  are  finally  killed  for  the  kitchens  below. 

But  let  us  go  down  and  take  a  walk  through  the  city. 
It  is  laid  out  in  the  form  of  a  triangle.  The  streets  cross 
one  another  at  right  angles,  with  beautiful  parks  or  plazas 
cut  out  here  and  there.  The  business  buildings  have 
awnings  over  the  sidewalks,  and  there  are  many  balconies 
to  protect  us  from  the  rays  of  the  sun.  It  is  but  a  few 
steps  from  our  hotel  to  the  chief  plaza,  on  one  side  of  which 
is  the  gre?-t  Lima  cathedral. 

This  building  is  one  of  the  finest  on  the  South  American 
continent.  It  is  older  than  any  church  in  our  country, 
and  it  has  cost  millions  of  dollars.  We  enter  and  take  a 
look  at  the  skeleton  of  the  treacherous  Pizarro  in  its  coffin 
of  glass,  and  then  cross  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  square 
where  the  government  palace  is  situated.  We  enter  the 
palace,  call  upon  the  president,  and  meet  many  of  the 
officials,  who  tell  us  about  the  republic.  The  government 
is  much  like  our  own,  consisting  of  a  president  and  a  congress 
elected  by  the  people. 

But  it  is  now  later  in  the  afternoon  and  the  offices  will 
soon  close  for  the  day.  It  is  also  the  best  hour  for  shopping, 
and  the  time  when  the  streets  are  filled  with  well-dressed 
people,  some  chatting  together,  and  others  going  from 
store  to  store  buying  goods,  so  we  leave  the  palace  and  stroll 
along  with  the  crowd. 

The  business  hours  of  South  American  cities  are  from 
seven  in  the  morning  until  eleven,  and  from  one  until  six 
in  the  afternoon.  Between  eleven  and  one  most  of  the 
stores  are  closed.  The  merchants  go  to  their  breakfasts, 
for  the  people  like  to  rest  during  the  heat  of  the  day. 


90  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Lima  has  many  fine  stores.  Most  of  them  are  without 
windows  facing  the  street.  They  are  so  made  that  the 
whole  front  can  be  opened,  and  as  we  walk  along  the 
streets  we  seem  to  be  passing  through  a  museum  with  goods 
of  all  kinds  piled  on  the  floors. 

What  queerly  dressed  women  we  meet  everywhere ! 
They  look  more  like  nuns  than  our  mothers  and  sisters 
when  out  shopping  at  home.  They  are  clad  in  black  and 
have  fine  black  cloths  draped  about  their  heads  and  pinned 
fast  at  the  back  of  the  neck,  so  that  only  the  face  shows. 
This  is  the  costume  ladies  wear  on  the  streets.  The  women 
of  the  upper  classes  dress  much  as  we  do  when  indoors, 
and  are  quite  as  fond  of  gay  clothes. 

The  men  wear  clothes  similar  to  ours.  They  have  on 
tall  hats  and  kid  gloves,  and  nearly  every  one  carries  a 
cane.  See  how  they  Kft  their  hats,  smile,  and  shake 
hands  when  they  meet,  and  how  they  smile  and  tip  their 
hats  when  they  part.  The  Peruvians  are  polite,  and 
especially  cordial  to  strangers.  One  of  them  will  walk 
a  block  to  show  us  our  way,  and  if  we  admire  anything  he 
has  he  will  ask  us  to  accept  it  as  a  gift.  Such  offers,  how- 
ever, are  merely  a  matter  of  form,  and  we  must  not  accept 
them. 

During  a  recent  trip  in  South  America,  I  was  offered  all 
sorts  of  things,  from  diamond  rings  to  poodle  dogs  and  fast 
horses.  One  day  a  rich  Peruvian  told  me  his  palace  was 
mine.  I  felt  quite  rich  for  a  moment,  but  I  knew  he  coulJ 
not  be  in  earnest  and  politely  refused. 

But  let  us  leave  the  stores  and  walk  through  the  city. 
The  streets  are  so  narrow  that  the  carriages  and  auto- 
mobiles have  trouble  in  passing,  and  we  are  often  crowded 
against  the  walls  by  the  hucksters  and  milkwomen,  who 
ride  quite  close  to  the  sidewalk  to  keep  out  of  the  throng. 


IN  LIMA,   THE   CAPITAL  OF  PERU  91 

The  hucksters  carry  their  vegetables  about  in  panniers 
slung  upon  donkeys,  and  the  bread  men  ride  horses  or 
mules  with  bags  of  loaves  on  each  side. 

That  woman  coming  toward  us  is  a  milk  woman.  See 
how  she  bobs  up  and  down  as  her  pony  trots  onward. 
She  has  her  cans  in  those  leather  buckets  fastened  to  the 
sides  of  the  pony,  and  she  is  sitting  almost  on  top  of  the 
buckets,  with  her  feet  about  the  pony's  neck.  She  is 
dressed  in  bright  calico  and  wears  a  broad-brimmed  Panama 
hat  above  her  brown  face.  Now  she  stops  and  slides  over 
the  horse's  neck  to  the  street.  She  ties  a  rope  around  his. 
front  legs  at  the  ankles  to  keep  him  from  running  away^ 
and  takes  one  of  the  buckets  into  a  house.  All  the  milk 
of  Lima  is  thus  served.  The  narrow  streets  are  not  suited  to 
carts  or  large  wagons,  and  the  huckstering  is  done  on 
donkeys  or  mules. 

Next  morning  we  go  to  the  market,  where  we  find  dozens 
of  animals  loaded  with  all  sorts  of  things.  The  big  market 
house  is  thronged  with  cooks  and  other  women  buying 
suppHes  for  their  tables. 

As  we  go  by  the  stalls  we  see  that  the  oases  of  the  desert 
produce  many  good  things  to  eat.  There  are  string  beans 
as  long  as  your  arm.  They  are  tied  in  bunches  and  hung 
upon  poles.  We  see  potatoes  of  all  kinds,  some  of  which 
are  as  yellow  as  gold.  They  are  the  famous  papas  ama- 
rillas,  the  yellow  potatoes  of  Peru.  We  see  sweet  potatoes 
of  many  varieties,  and  quantities  of  yucca,  a  rootlike  tuber 
somewhat  like  the  potato.  It  grows  as  big  around  as  a 
baseball  bat  and  is  often  two  feet  in  length.  The  flesh  is 
white  and  like  wax  or  jelly. 

There  are  roasting  ears,  squashes,  and  pumpkins,  and 
many  kinds  of  melons.  The  fruit  dealers  have  oranges, 
lemons,   alligator  pears,  guavas,   papayas,   pomegranates, 


92  SOUTH   AMERICA 

pineapples,  bananas,  peaches,  pears,  and  grapes  of  many- 
varieties.  There  are  excellent  fish,  one  species  of 
which  is  served  with  lemon  juice  and  eaten  raw.  There 
are  all  sorts  of  meats,  and  one  can  buy  a  kid  or  a  half  dozen 
guinea  pigs  for  a  trifle.  The  Peruvians  are  fond  of  guinea 
pigs,  and  raise  them  for  food.  We  eat  some  of  the  meat 
in  a  stew  and  find  it  dehcious. 


o>*to 


XII.     UP   THE   ANDES 

GET  out  your  overcoats,  put  on  your  high  boots,  and  take 
your  mittens  along.  We  are  bound  for  the  top  of 
the  Andes,  and  may  have  to  tramp  through  the  snow. 

We  shall  ride  there  upon  one  of  the  steepest  railways 
of  the  world.  The  central  railway  of  Peru  begins  at  Callao, 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  goes  over  the  Andes  and  for 
some  distance  down  the  east  slope,  with  a  branch  to  the 
famous  silver  and  copper  mines  of  Cerro  de  Pasco 
(ser'ro  da  pas'ko),  which  are  now  owned  by  a  United  States 
company.  The  railway  was  planned  and  partly  constructed 
by  a  Californian  named  Meiggs,  but  the  cost  was  so  great 
that  the  branch  to  Cerro  de  Pasco  was  not  completed  until 
a  few  years  ago. 

As  it  is,  the  road  is  several  hundred  miles  long  in  its 
windings,  although  in  a  straight  fine  it  is  only  about  one 
hundred  miles  to  the  top  of  the  pass.  It  is  so  steep,  how- 
ever, that  during  that  one  hundred  miles  we  shall  rise  more 
than  three  miles  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  land  on  the 
great  plateau  between  the  two  ranges  of  the  Andes. 

Leaving  Lima  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  we  pass 
through  the  sugar  and  cotton  plantations  of  the  Rimac 


A  railway  in  the  Andes  built    by  American  engineers,      llie  track 
zigzags  back  and  forth  to  reach  higher  grades. 


93 


94  SOUTH  AMERICA 

valley.  The  fields  are  as  green  as  Georgia  in  June.  The 
cotton  is  in  blossom,  and  the  plantations  look  Hke  vast 
gardens  of  pink  and  hght  yellow  roses.  There  are  gangs 
of  Indian  peons,  clad  in  white,  working  among  them.  The 
fields  are  as  well  kept  as  our  gardens  at  home. 

We  ride  by  several  villages  of  one-story  houses,  pass  a 
cotton  mill  and  a  large  sugar  factory,  and  then  shoot  out  into 
the  dry  foothills  of  the  Andes.  What  a  change !  The  vegeta- 
tion has  disappeared,  and  the  low  hills  are  bleak  and  bare  in 
the  Hght  of  the  early  morning.  We  ride  for  miles,  cKmbing 
higher  and  higher,  and  seeing  nothing  but  dazzling  gray  rocks. 

Farther  on  there  is  more  moisture,  and  a  thin  fuzz  of 
green  crops  out  of  the  gray.  Now  a  Httle  cactus  and  small 
bunches  of  weeds  appear.  As  we  rise  higher  still  the 
mountains  grow  greener.  At  a  mile  above  the  sea  there  is 
a  thin  coat  of  grass,  and  at  two  miles  we  count  forty  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  flowers  at  a  stopping  of  the  train.  There 
are  buttercups  without  number,  and  flowers  of  all  colors, 
the  names  of  which  we  do  not  know.  It  is  now  winter  in 
the  Andes,  when  halfway  up  the  western  slope  there  are 
frequent  mists  or  hght  rains.  In  summer  all  is  as  gray 
and  sterile  as  the  desert  below. 

Now  we  have  come  to  a  region  where  patches  of  soil  are  to 
be  seen  here  and  there,  and  where  every  foot  of  good 
ground  is  tilled.  The  fields  through  which  we  are  riding 
are  not  bigger  than  bedspreads,  and  those  on  the  other  side 
of  the  valley  seem  in  the  distance  the  size  of  a  handkerchief. 
See  those  green  ledges  one  above  the  other  on  the  side  of 
that  mountain !  They  rise  almost  to  the  top  and  are  so 
made  that  a  man  could  stand  on  any  of  the  lower  ones  and 
weed  the  crop  on  the  ledge  just  above.  Those  terraces 
were  built  by  the  Indians  in  the  time  of  the  Incas.  They 
are  now  used  only  for  grazing. 


UP  THE  ANDES  95 

We  have  stopped  at  a  station.  About  it  is  a  village  of 
huts  with  walls  of  sun-dried  brick  and  roofs  of  gray  thatch. 
The  stones  have  been  laid  upon  the  roof  to  keep  the  strong 
winds  from  hfting  the  thatch.  How  small  the  huts  are  and 
how  mean !  Some  are  no  better  than  dog  kennels.  They 
are  the  homes  of  the  dark-faced  Indian  men,  women,  and 
children  dressed  in  white  cotton,  who  are  gathering  about 
us  as  we  stand  on  the  platform.  You  may  see  more  of 
them  at  work  in  the  fields  or  tending  the  llamas,  alpacas, 
and  sheep  in  the  mountains. 

How  pure  the  air  is,  and  how  grand  the  scenes  all  about 
us !  The  mountains  rise  almost  straight  over  our  heads. 
The  railroad  hangs  to  their  sides,  and  we  ride  for  miles 
between  walls  of  rock  which  look  like  gigantic  cathedrals, 
their  spires  lost  in  the  clouds.  We  shoot  through  tunnels 
which  wind  about  Hke  the  letter  S,  and  cross  steel  bridges 
over  deep  canons  above  mountain  streams.  Every  turn 
brings  new  pictures,  some  of  which  are  of  terrible  grandeur. 

What  a  triumph  of  modern  engineering  was  the  building 
of  this  track  up  the  Andes  !  It  cost  many  millions  of  dollars 
and  thousands  of  lives.  The  road  goes  up  some  of  the 
steepest  mountains  of  the  globe.  Much  of  its  bed  was  cut 
out  of  the  rocks,  and  at  times  the  men  had  to  be  lowered 
in  baskets  over  the  precipices  to  drill  holes  for  the  blasting. 
The  tracks  wind  this  way  and  that,  one  above  the  other, 
so  that  in  places  we  can  count  five  different  tracks  which 
run  almost  parallel  along  the  steep  mountain  wall,  showing 
us  how  the  road  had  to  zigzag  to  climb  its  way  up. 

Farther  on  the  air  grows  colder.  At  two  miles  we  pass 
through  a  rainstorm,  and  later  are  surrounded  by  snow. 
Now  the  mist  and  clouds  have  come  down  about  us,  and  we 
are  enveloped  in  fog.  A  httle  higher,  and  we  are  above 
the  clouds.     Now  the  wind  is  carrying  the  clouds  down 


96 


UP  THE  ANDES  97 

the  Andes,  the  air  becomes  clear,  and  we  shudder  at  the 
precipices,  along  the  walls  of  which  we  are  crawling. 

Now  we  are  surrounded  by  glaciers  on  the  tops  of  the 
Andes.  That  white  peak  above  us  is  Mount  Meiggs.  Its 
summit  is  more  than  seventeen  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  where  we  stop  at  the  entrance  to  the  Galera  tunnel 
we  are  three  miles  farther  up  in  the  air  than  when  we 
started  this  morning. 

We  are  at  the  highest  point  on  any  railroad  in  the  world, 
far  above  the  height  of  Fujiyama,  the  sacred  snow-capped 
mountain  of  Japan.  We  are  about  as  high  up  as  Mont 
Blanc,  and  a  thousand  feet  higher  than  Pikes  Peak  or  any 
other  mountain  in  the  United  States  outside  Alaska. 
There  is  a  blue  glacier  hanging  over  us  at  the  top  of  Mount 
Meiggs,  and  right  under  it,  in  the  middle  of  the  tunnel, 
is  a  place  where  the  waters  flowing  to  the  Atlantic  and  to 
the  Pacific  divide.  We  go  in  and  take  a  drink  from  the 
stream  at  the  side  of  the  railroad,  which  is  trickling  its 
way  to  the  Rimac  River  and  the  Pacific,  and  then  by  a  jump 
reach  a  place  where  we  bend  over  and  scoop  up  some  water 
about  starting  down  the  east  slope  into  one  of  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Amazon  on  its  way  to  the  Atlantic. 

We  walk  farther  on  through  the  tunnel  to  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Andes.  There  are  snow  banks  outside  the 
tunnel  and  we  start  a  snow  fight  away  up  here  in  the 
clouds.  We  are  soon  glad  to  stop.  The  air  is  so  rare  that 
every  ball  we  throw  sends  our  hearts  into  our  throats,  and 
we  pant  for  breath.  We  try  to  yell,  but  our  voices  are 
weak  from  the  thinness  of  the  air,  and  the  yell  ends  in  a 
squeak.  Our  boots  suddenly  grow  heavy.  We  move 
slowly,  and  in  climbing  the  hills  we  crawl.  Some  of  us 
are  attacked  with  the  sorocJte  (so-ro'cha)  or  mountain 
sickness  that  comes  to  many  when  they  first  go  so  high 


98  SOUTH  AMERICA 

in  the  air.  We  have  terrible  headaches,  and  at  the  same 
time  feel  severe  nausea.  During  our  first  night  in  the 
mountains  we  cannot  sleep.  Some  of  us  faint,  and  blood 
comes  from  our  mouths,  eyes,  and  noses.  The  sickness 
passes  away  after  a  while,  however,  and  we  then  enjoy  the 
strange  sights  and  pure  air  of  the  Andes. 


o>»;c 


XIII.     ON   THE   ROOF   OF   SOUTH  AMERICA 

WE  are  starting  this  morning  for  a  journey  upon  the 
high  plateaus  of  the  Andes.  The  cold  air  bites  our 
noses.  There  are  snowy  mountains  on  each  side  of  us,  and 
we  are  on  what  might  be  called  the  roof  of  the  South 
American  continent.  The  Andes  are  among  the  liighest 
mountains  of  the  globe,  and  they  are  surpassed  only  by 
the  Himalayas  of  Asia.  They  have  several  peaks  more 
than  four  miles  above  the  sea.  We  saw  some  of  the  loftiest 
in  Ecuador,  and  we  shall  travel  among  others  on  our  way 
south  through  Peru  and  Bolivia. 

The  highest  of  the  Andes  is  Mount  Aconcagua  in 
Argentina.  Its  top  is  about  twenty-three  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  level.  Beginning  with  it  and  running 
northward  to  Ecuador,  the  mountains  extend  in  an  irregular 
double  chain,  upholding  this  lofty  plateau  where  we  are 
now.  The  plateau  in  some  parts  of  Peru  is  five  hundred 
miles  wide,  and  in  BoKvia  it  is  bigger  than  the  state  of 
Missouri.  Much  of  it  is  more  than  twice  as  high  as  the  top 
of  Mount  Washington. 

We  are  many  days  riding  on  horseback  upon  the  plateau, 
and  now  and  then  we  make  excursions  off  to  the  camps 
where  men  are  mining  for  silver  and  gold.     The  Andes  are 


ON  THE  ROOI-    OF  SOUTH  AMERICA  99 

noted  for  their  mineral  deposits,  and  great  quantities  of 
the  precious  metals,  as  well  as  copper  and  tin,  are  taken  out 
of  them  and  shipped  to  the  United  States  and  Europe 
every  year.  Some  of  the  best  mines  of  Peru  belong  to 
United  States  citizens,  and  among  them  are  the  copper 
and  silver  mines  of  Cerro  de  Pasco,  reached  by  the  central 
railway  up  which  we  have  come.  Cerro  de  Pasco  is  on 
'  a  branch  line  ninety  miles  north  of  the  road  over  the  Andes. 
/It  is  built  above  what  was  one  of  the  largest  bodies  of 
silver  ore  ever  known.  It  was  about  a  mile  long  and  more 
than  half  a  mile  wide.  The  mine  was  discovered  several 
hundred  years  ago  by  an  Indian  shepherd  who  had  wandered 
there  one  day  with  his  flock.  As  evening  drew  on  he  found 
the  air  cold  and  kindled  a  fire  before  which  he  lay  down  to 
sleep.  When  he  awoke  next  morning  he  discovered  that 
the  stone  upon  which  his  fire  had  been  built  had  melted 
and  turned  to  silver.  Since  then  milhons  of  tons  of  silver 
ore  have  been  taken  out  of  mines  below  where  that  shepherd 
lay,  and  now  great  quantities  of  copper  are  being  mined 
from  where  it  was  found  under  the  silver.  The  copper 
mines  are  owned  by  men  from  the  United  States  who  have 
built  a  huge  smelter  near  Cerro  de  Pasco.  It  is  over  four- 
teen thousand  feet  above  the  sea  and  is  the  highest  smelter 
on  earth.  From  it  come  many  thousands  of  pounds  of 
copper  a  day.  The  red  metal  is  sliipped  over  the  railroad 
to  the  seacoast,  and  thence  sent  north  through  the  Panama 
Canal  to  the  United  States.  It  may  be  that  the  telephone 
wires  in  our  home  towns  are  made  of  that  copper. 

Another  important  mineral  found  in  Peru  is  vanadium, 
which  is  mixed  with  steel  to  increase  its  strength  and 
resistance  to  shock.  It  is  used  largely  for  airplanes, 
armor-plate,  and  automobiles.  It  is  also  employed  in 
machine  tools  which  will  run  at  high  speed  and  not  be 


lOO 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


affected  by  heat.  Peru  produces  most  of  the  vanadium 
of  the  world,  and  its  mines  are  worked  by  United  States 
citizens.  They  are  not  far  from  Cerro  de  Pasco.  They  are 
more  than  three  miles  above  sea  level,  near  the  famous 
Rock  Forest  of  the  Andes,  a  region  somewhat  like  our 
Garden  of  the  Gods  in  Colorado. 


This  copper  smeller  near  Cerro  de  Pasco,  14,000  feel  above  Ihe  sea, 
belongs  lo  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


Vanadium  looks  somewhat  like  black  asphalt.  It  is  dug 
out  of  the  earth  and  carried  on  the  backs  of  llamas  to  the 
railroad ;  thence  shipped  to  the  seacoast,  from  where  it 
is  exported  to  steel  centers  all  over  the  world.  During 
the  World  War  much  of  this  metal  was  used  in  making  ma- 
chine guns  and  other  things  for  the  armies  of  the  United 
States  and  our  alUes. 


ON  THE  ROOF  OF  SOUTH   AMERICA  lOi 

Petroleum  has  been  found  in  the  highlands,  and  large 
pools  of  it  are  being  worked  along  the  coast  of  the  Peruvian 
desert. 

Travehng  southward  upon  the  high  plateau  of  the  Andes, 
we  ride  on  and  on  over  desolate  plains  covered  with  a 
scanty  growth  of  fuzzy  green  grass.  How  it  rains !  It  is 
now  winter  and  we  have  a  storm  of  hail,  snow,  or  rain 
alitiost  every  day.  The  grass  is  soaked  with  water,  and 
we  cannot  get  down  from  our  horses  without  wetting  our 
feet. 

There  are  but  few  trees,  and  the  little  mud  huts  have  only 
small  patches  of  potatoes,  green  barley,  or  quinua  (kcen'wa) 
about  them. 

This  plateau  is  the  natural  home  of  the  potato,  which  was 
first  taken  to  Europe  about  seventy  years  after  Columbus 
discovered  America.  Later  on  it  was  cultivated  in  Ireland 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  often  called  the  Irish  potato. 
The  potatoes  of  Peru  are  small,  many  of  them  being  no 
bigger  than  walnuts.  It  takes  a  milder  climate  and  a  rich 
soil  to  make  them  grow  to  the  size  of  the  huge  tubers  sold 
in  our  markets.  The  potatoes  of  Montana  and  Colorado 
would  be  giants  in  this  land  from  which  their  forefathers 
came. 

We  are  now  so  far  above  the  sea  that  barley  will  not 
ripen,  although  some  is  grown  for  forage.  Quinua,  which 
takes  the  place  of  many  other  grains  in  these  highlands,  is 
a  plant  much  like  our  chickweed.  It  has  yellow  or  red  leaves 
and  Httle  white  seeds  which  when  shelled  out  are  Uke  hominy 
ground  fine.     It  is  eaten  as  mush  and  is  cooked  in  stews. 

There  are  dandelions  and  other  hardy  flowers  on  the 
plains.  There  are  evergreen  bushes  that  grow  only  as 
tall  as  our  ankles,  for  all  things  are  stunted  here  so  high 
in  the  air. 


ON  THE  ROOF  OF  SOUTH   AMERICA  103 

What  are  those  queer  animals  we  see  in  the  pastures  or 
going  along  with  bags  on  their  backs?  They  are  bigger 
than  sheep,  but  they  remind  us  of  them,  for  they  are 
covered  with  wool.  They  have  long  necks,  with  heads 
like  a  camel's.  Their  feet  and  legs  are  like  those  of  a  deer. 
See  how  gracefully  they  walk.  Notice  how  they  hold  their 
little  heads  in  the  air,  pricking  up  their  ears  hke  so  many 
Skye  terriers.  Those  are  llamas,  the  odd  little  creatures 
which  act  as  beasts  of  burden  in  the  Andean  highland. 

Are  they  not  beautiful?  Some  are  snow  white,  some  seal 
brown,  and  a  few  black  and  spotted.  Their  wool  is  long. 
It  is  used  by  the  Indians  to -make  ponchos,  blankets,  and 
clothes. 

Let  us  examine  the  llamas  more  closely.  Take  this 
drove  coming  toward  us,  each  carrying  a  bag  of  silver  ore 
on  his  back.  Notice  how  small  the  bags  are.  Each  weighs 
just  one  hundred  pounds.  The  llama  is  particular  as 
to  how  much  he  carries,  and  that  is  the  biggest  weight  he 
will  stand.  If  you  put  on  more,  he  will  not  cry  or  groan  but 
will  calmly  kneel  down  and  stay  there  until  his  load  is 
made  right. 

Look  out !  Don't  stroke  that  beast  with  your  hand  ! 
Don't  you  see  he  is  angry  by  the  way  he  is  shaking  his 
head? 

And  do  llamas  bite? 

They  do  not  bite,  but  when  angry  they  spit,  and  I  would 
rather  have  three  camels  bite  me  than  be  spat  upon  by  one 
of  these  beasts.  Their  spittle  has  an  oflfensive  smell,  and 
it  smarts  hke  an  acid.  If  once  hit,  you  will  find  it  hard  to 
get  the  stench  out  of  your  clothes,  and  you  cannot  go  on 
with  our  party  until  you  have  had  a  bath  and  a  change. 
We  find  some  of  the  llamas  gentle,  however,  and  we  grow 
to  Hke  them  as  we  ride  farther  on  the  high  plains. 


I04 


ON  THE  ROOF  OF  SOUTH   AMERICA  105 

But  are  these  baby  llamas  on  the  pastures  through  which 
we  are  passing?  Some  of  them  are  black  and  some  are 
snow  white.  No,  those  are  not  llamas,  although  they  look 
like  them.  They  are  alpacas,  a  domestic  animal  not  used 
as  a  beast  of  burden  but  valued  for  its  long,  silky  wool. 
The  wool  is  finer  than  that  of  the  llama  and  it  is  straighter 
and  stronger  than  sheep's  wool.  It  makes  shawls,  fine 
clothes,  and  umbrella  covers.  Much  of  it  goes  from  Peru 
to  our  country. 

The  vicuna  (ve-coon'ya) ,  a  still  smaller  animal  belonging 
to  the  same  family,  runs  wild  in  these  regions.  We  may 
have  a  chance  to  shoot  one  later.  It  is  as  swift  as  a  deer 
and  exceedingly  wary.  Vicuna  wool  is  like  yellow  velvet, 
and  we  can  buy  rugs  made  of  the  skins  in  the  stores  of  the 
Bolivian  cities.  Still  farther  south  we  shall  see  the  guanaco, 
which  also  looks  like  the  llama  but  is  as  wild  as  the  vicuna. 
It  has  yellow  and  white  fur  about  as  long  as  that  of  a 
Newfoundland  dog. 

Going  on  with  our  journey,  we  now  and  then  cross  the 
high  valleys  that  cut  through  the  Andean  plateau.  In 
these  valleys,  owing  to  the  lower  altitude,  the  climate  is 
milder,  and  there  are  all  kinds  of  semi-tropical  fruits. 
In  one  of  these  valleys  we  visit  Cuzco  (koos'ko),  where 
the  capital  of  the  Incas,  the  rulers  of  the  Indians  of  ancient 
Peru,  was  located.  The  town  is  situated  one  thousand 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  plateau  at  a  place  where  three 
rivers  meet.  Nevertheless,  it  is  more  than  two  miles 
above  the  sea. 

We  see  here  the  ruins  of  the  great  temples  that  the 
Spaniards  found  in  the  days  of  Pizarro.  Cuzco  was  then 
the  chief  city  of  the  great  nation  of  civilized  Indians  who 
inhabited  almost  the  whole  of  western  South  America. 
These   Indians  might  be   compared   with    the   Aztecs  of 


ic6  SOUTH   AMERICA 

Mexico,  and  Cuzco  with  their  capital,  situated  where 
Mexico  City  now  is.  Cuzco  had  about  two  hundred 
thousand  people,  and  some  of  its  temples  were  plated  with 
gold.  The  Spaniards  tore  seven  hundred  gold  plates, 
each  as  big  as  the  lid  of  a  large  chest,  from  the  walls  of 
the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  and  when  they  left  after  their  first 
visit  their  horses  were  loaded  with  gold.  A  part  of  the 
walls  of  this  temple  and  others  built  then  are  still  standing. 
They  are  made  of  huge  blocks  of  stone  fitted  together 
without  mortar  so  tightly  that  when  I  tried  to  push  a 
needle  between  the  stones  it  would  not  go  in.  The  ruins 
of  the  great  fort  of  tte  Incas  above  the  city  are  still  to  be 
seen,  and  near  by  we  are  shown  a  seat  cut  out  of  the  rock 
that  served  as  the  out-of-door  throne  of  the  Inca  king. 

Pizarro  found  the  plateau  quite  thickly  populated. 
It  is  still  so  to-day.  Although  it  is  more  like  a  city  of  old 
Spain  than  like  the  capital  of  Atahualpa,  Cuzco  has  now 
about  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  who  live  in  stone 
buildings  of  one  or  two  stories.  They  are  covered  with 
plaster  and  have  roofs  of  red  tiles.  Churches  and  con- 
vents have  been  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  Inca  city,  and 
there  is  a  cathedral  that  covers  several  acres. 

We  are  surprised  to  see  so  many  Indians  in  Cuzco.  The 
town  has  twelve  red  men  to  every  white  one,  and  on  our 
way  down  the  Andean  plateau  we  meet  many  queer-looking 
Indian  men,  women,  and  children.  They  are  in  their  bare 
feet,  and  they  wear  an  odd  dress.  The  men  have  on  bright- 
colored  ponchos,  black  vests,  and  wide  black  trousers 
slit  up  as  far  as  the  knee  at  the  back.  Each  wears  a 
woolen  cap,  knit  much  like  a  nightcap,  with  flaps  down 
over  the  ears.  Over  the  cap  he  has  a  low  felt  hat  with 
a  very  broad  brim,  which  seems  to  be  more  for  ornament 
than  warmth.     The  Indian   women  wear  black  or  blue 


ON    THE  ROOF  OF  SOUTH   AMERICA 


107 


woolen   skirts   that   reach   just   below    the   knees.     They 

have  hats  with  low  crowns  and  broad  brims.     We  see  many 

of  them  in  the  fields,  watching  the  llamas,  alpacas,  and 

sheep.     Each  has  a 

long  spool  of  wool  in 

her  hand,    and   she 

spins  llama  wool  as 

she  watches  her 

flock. 

We  meet  more  In- 
dians as  we  go  on 
toward  Lake  Titi- 
caca  (te-te-ka'ka), 
and  we  shall  see 
their  mud  villages 
everywhere  on  the 
high  plateau  of  Bo- 
livia. They  belong 
to  the  two  tribes, 
the  Quichua  (ke'- 
chwa)  and  Aymara 
(l-ma-ra') ,  both  of 
which  were  here 
when  the  Spaniards 
first  came.  The 
Quichuas  occupied 
Peru  and  the  lands 
to  the  north.  The 
Aymaras  lived  in 
the   plateau  farther 

south.     Even  now  the  descendants  of  these  two  tribes  nuni- 
ber  more  than  one  million. 

These  Indians  of  the  high  Andes  are  a  queer  people,  and 


The  Incas  built  walls  of  enormous  stones 
wilhout  mortar,  but  so  nicely  fitted  that 
the  author  cannot  thrust  a  needle  between 
them. 


.i 


ff- 


io8 


ON  THE   ROOF  OF   SOUTH   AMERICA  109 

they  have  habits  and  ways  of  their  own.  Most  of  them 
are  descendants  of  the  tribes  who  were  ruled  by  the  Incas. 
Like  those  we  saw  in  the  high  valleys  of  Ecuador,  most 
of  them  are  little  more  than  slaves  to  the  white  and  mixed 
races  who  own  the  lands.  Each  large  farm  has  a  small 
colony  of  Indians  upon  it,  and  each  family  has  its  mud  hut. 
Throughout  the  year  the  Indians  work  one  half  of  each 
week  for  the  owner  of  the  estate  as  rent  for  their  huts 
and  the  small  patches  of  ground  about  tJiem.  The  re- 
maining three  days  they  have  for  themselves.  If  their 
master  does  not  want  their  work  he  can  hire  them  to  others, 
and  if  they  do  not  obey  he  can  punish  them. 

The  Indians  are  docile  and  will  Dear  much  without 
growing  angry.  They  are  said  to  love  their  masters  and 
will  band  together  to  fight  for  them.  The  Indians  of  the 
different  farms  often  have  quarrels,  and  at  such  times 
each  band  marches  upon  the  other  as  though  in  actual 
warfare.  They  frequently  use  guns,  but  more  often  slings, 
with  which  they  throw  stones  with  great  force  and  skill, 
sometimes  kilHng  one  another  in  their  fights. 

Let  us  enter  an  Indian  hut.  The  one  we  select  would 
hardly  be  a  respectable  pigsty  for  one  of  our  farms.  It 
is  of  mud,  and  is  not  more  than  ten  feet  square.  Its 
thatched  roof  is  so  low  that  we  can  touch  it  when  we 
stand  outside  the  front  door,  and  as  we  go  in  we  have  to 
stoop  and  Hft  our  feet  as  high  as  a  chair  to  get  over  the 
mud  sill  and  through  the  hole  which  serves  as  an  entrance. 
Inside  there  is  only  just  enough  space  to  turn  around. 
One  side  of  the  room  is  lllled  with  farm  tools ;  on  the  other 
is  a  donkey,  and  the  chickens  squawk  as  they  run  here 
and  there  to  get  out  of  our  way.  There  is  almost  no  fur- 
niture. The  people  sit  on  the  floor.  They  often  sleep 
sitting  against  the  wall,  huddling  close  together  for  warmth. 


STEAMBOATINO  ABOVE  THE   CLOUDS  iii 

That  little  clay  pot  over  there  with  the  ashes  beneath 
it  is  the  stove.  The  hut  has  no  chimney,  and  the  smoke 
finds  its  way  out  as  it  can.  The  cooking  is  simple.  A 
favorite  dish  is  challona  stew  with  chuiio  (choon'yo),  or 
frozen  potatoes,  mixed  with  it.  Challona  is  dried  mutton. 
The  sheep  is  split  open  when  killed  and  then  left  out  to  freeze. 
When  it  is  stiff  water  is  sprinkled  over  it  and  it  is  frozen 
again.  It  is  then  hung  up  out-of-doors  and  soon  becomes 
so  dry  that  it  will  keep  for  months.  It  must,  however, 
be  cut  up  into  small  bits  and  boiled  a  long  time  before  it 
is  tender. 

We  find  chuno  for  sale  in  the  markets  of  Cuzco,  and  we 
can  buy  them  everywhere  on  the  high  plateau  of  the  Andes. 
They  look  like  bits  of  bleached  bones,  or  perhaps  more  like 
the  large  flat  white  pebbles  one  finds  on  the  seashore. 
They  are  really  potatoes  which  are  frozen  and  dried,  so 
that  they  can  be  kept  for  a  year  without  spoihng.  The 
raw  potatoes  are  first  soaked  in  water,  being  wet  every 
day,  and  left  out  at  night  to  freeze.  The  skins  are  then 
troddsn  off  with  the  bare  feet,  and  the  potatoes  are 
thoroughly  dried  in  the  air.  They  are  now  as  hard  as  rock 
and  as  white  as  snow.  They  are  soaked  before  cooking, 
and  are  usually  served  as  a  stew.  We  eat  some,  but  find 
them  insipid. 

XIV.  STEAMBOATING  ABOVE  THE  CLOUDS 

STEAMBOATING  above  the  clouds!  Floating  over 
some  of  the  highest  waters  of  the  globe !  Sailing  in 
sight  of  glacial  snows  amid  the  tops  of  the  Andes,  so  near 
the  sky  that  heaven  and  earth  seem  to  meet  close  around 
us  and  make  us  tliink  we  are  on  the  very  roof  of  the  world  ! 


112  SOUTH   AMERICA 

We  are  outside  the  harbor  of  Puno  (poo'no)  on  the  broad 
waters  of  Lake  Titicaca. 

The  air  is  so  clear  we  can  see  for  miles.  That  blue 
mass  in  front  is  Titicaca  Island.  It  will  take  us  four  hours 
to  steam  to  it,  but  it  looks  quite  near  as  it  Hes  there  like 
a  great  balloon  on  the  water.  There  are  altogether  eight 
large  islands  in  the  lake,  some  of  which  are  inhabited. 
Now  we  are  steaming  by  one.  See,  the  bits  of  land  be- 
tween the  rocks  are  green  with  scanty  crops  of  potatoes, 
barley,  and  quinua.  The  soil  is  cultivated  to  the  tops  of 
the  hills,  and  red-faced  Indians  are  at  work  in  the  fields. 
Their  huts  of  stone  and  thatch  are  near  the  shore.  Some 
have  llamas,  sheep,  and  donkeys  tethered  about  them. 

How  grand  are  the  mountains !  There  is  nothing  finer 
in  the  Himalayas  or  the  Alps.  That  silvery  mass  at  the 
east  is  Sorata  (so-ra'ta),  next  to  Aconcagua  the  highest 
of  the  Andes.  The  great  wall  of  mountains  which  stretches 
from  it  to  the  east  is  the  Sorata  range,  and  that  tall  peak 
rising  over  the  others  is  Illimani  (el-ye-ma'ne) ,  which  is 
about  four  miles  in  height. 

This  lake  upon  which  we  are  floating  is  almost  as  high 
in  the  air  as  Pikes  Peak.  Those  little  huts  we  see  on  the 
islands  are  among  the  highest  houses  in  the  world  in  which 
people  live,  and  this  is  really  the  loftiest  of  all  lakes  upon 
which  steamboats  sail.  Nevertheless,  it  is  half  as  large 
as  Lake  Ontario,  and  of  about  the  same  depth. 

But  where  does  the  lake  come  from,  and  where  does  it  go  ? 
We  can  easily  see  its  source  in  the  snows  and  glaciers  about 
us.  It  is  made  by  the  snow  water  of  nine  rivers  from  these 
mighty  Andes.  It  remains  at  about  the  same  level  from 
one  year's  end  to  the  other.  A  part  of  its  waters  flows 
into  the  river  Desaguadero  (das-a-gwa-da'ro)  and  on  into 
Lake  Poopo  (po-6-po')  which  has  no  outlet  to  the  sea. 


STEAMBOATING  ABOVE  THE  CLOUDS     113 

But  let  us  take  a  look  at  our  ship.  It  is  as  beautiful 
as  a  gentleman's  yacht,  and  it  is  carrying  us  over  Lake 
Titicaca  at  a  speed  of  twelve  miles  an  hour.  It  is  named 
the  Choya,  and  a  plate  on  its  engine  records  that  the  ship 
was  built  away  off  in  Glasgow,  Scotland. 

This  seems  strange.  How  could  they  possibly  hft  such 
a  big  ship  over  the  Andes?  The  Choya  weighs  so  much 
that  if  it  could  be  loaded  on  wagons  a  thousand  horses 
could  not  pull  it.  They  could  not  lift  such  a  weight  over 
these  mountains,  which  are  twice  as  high  as  any  peak  of  our 
Appalachian  chain. 

Of  course  they  could  not  if  they  tried  to  hft  the  ship 
as  a  whole.  But  such  a  vessel  was  needed  for  commerce, 
and  commerce  works  in  all  sorts  of  ways  to  accompUsh 
its  ends.  The  ship  was  taken  apart  and  the  pieces  put 
on  a  steamer  and  brought  from  Glasgow  over  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  oceans  to  the  seaport  of  Mollendo  (mol-yen'do) 
in  southern  Peru.  At  Mollendo  is  the  beginning  of  a 
railroad  quite  as  wonderful  as  that  upon  which  we  came 
over  the  Andes  from  Lima.  It  is  three  hundred  miles 
long  and  connects  the  seacoast  with  Puno  on  Lake  Titicaca, 
the  port  to  which  we  came  by  railway  from  Cuzco.  The 
parts  of  the  ship  were  put  on  the  cars  at  Mollendo,  and  the 
locomotives  dragged  them  up  over  the  Andes  to  Puno. 
Here  they  were  taken  off,  put  together,  and  launched  on 
the  lake ;  so  that  to-day  we  can  sail  upon  these  high  waters 
in  a  steel  vessel  made  in  Scotland.  This  is  one  of  the 
wonders  of  commerce. 

We  are  still  more  interested  when  the  engineer  tells  us 
the  coal  he  is  using  comes  from  Australia,  so  that  both 
sides  of  the  world  seem  to  be  working  to  help  us  along  on 
our  journey. 

When  we  examine  the  freight  on  the  Choya  we  see  how 


114  SOUTH   AMERICA 

the  ship  is  one  of  the  agents  of  commerce.  It  contains 
goods  from  the  United  States  and  other  parts  of  the  world, 
which  it  is  carrying  to  Bolivia ;  and  the  captain  tells  us 
that  it  will  bring  back  a  load  of  copper,  gold,  silver,  tin, 
and  Peru\aan  bark  and  rubber  to  be  sent  down  to  the  • 
Pacific.  Who  knows  but  that  the  copper  may  be  used 
in  the  same  works  in  Cilasgow  where  the  steamer  was 
made ;  and  whether  the  silver  and  gold  may  not  find  their 
way  to  Australia  to  pay  the  miners  who  have  furnished  our 
coal? 

Now  we  are  aj^proaching  Guaqui  (gwa'ke),  the  only 
port  of  Bolivia.  We  see  many  boats  near  the  shore  and 
some  starting  out  to  bring  freight  to  the  steamer.  What 
queer  things  they  are !  They  appear  to  be  made  of  straw, 
but  men  are  working  upon  them,  and  one  has  a  donkey 
and  a  llama  on  board.  Some  have  sails  made  of  rolls  of 
straw  or  reeds  tied  together.  Others  are  being  poled 
through  the  water.  They  are  balsas,  a  curious  craft  used 
by  the  Indians  of  Lake  Titicaca.  They  are  just  like  the 
boats  which  they  had  when  the  Spaniards  first  came. 

Here  is  a  balsa  which  has  come  close  to  our  steamer. 
It  is  made  of  the  long  reeds  that  grow  in  quantities  on  the 
edge  of  the  lake.  The  reeds  are  laid  side  by  side  and  tied 
tightly  in  rolls  which  are  so  woven  and  fastened  that  they 
form  a  water-tight  boat  which  will  float  on  the  lake.  ' 

But  we  have  at  last  reached  the  wharf.  There  is  a 
crowd  of  Indians  ready  to  unload  the  steamer.  We  hand 
our  baggage  to  them,  and  follow  them  to  the  town.  As 
we  go  we  pass  hundreds  of  mules  and  llamas  loaded  with 
produce  to  be  shipped  across  Lake  Titicaca.  Other  goods  are 
coming  in  by  the  railroad  from  La  Paz  (la  pas').  They  will 
be  sent  over  the  lake  to  Puno  and  will  go  down  the  western 
slope  of  the  Andes  to  Mollendo,  the  chief  port  of  southern 


A  balsa  is  a  large  boat,  woven  out  of  reeds  like  a  basket. 
"5 


Ii6  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Peru,  from  which  steamers  will  carry  them  northward 
through  the  Panama  Canal  to  Europe  and  the  United 
States.  This  railway  is  one  of  the  chief  outlets  for  the 
tin  trade  of  Bolivia. 

1 .  Locate  Peru.  Compare  it  in  size  with  the  United  States ; 
with  your  state;  with  Brazil;  with  Ecuador.  (See  Table  V.) 
What  is  the  government  of  Peru? 

2.  Describe  the  South  American  desert.  Why  are  the  coast 
lands  of  Ecuador  wet  and  this  coastal  desert  so  dry?  What  kind  of 
oases  has  Peru?  Why  do  the  people  live  in  the  oases?  Mention 
some  of  the  important  fruits  and  crops.  Why  do  we  import  Peru- 
vian cotton? 

3.  Name  three  others  of  the  great  deserts  of  the  world.  (See 
Carpenter's  "Asia,"  "Africa,"  and  "Australia.")  Mention  some 
famous  oasis  cities.  Compare  Lima  with  Cairo  in  Egypt ;  with 
Damascus  in  Asia. 

4.  Write  a  letter  from  an  Indian  boy  of  Peru  telling  how  he  hves 
and  works  in  the  desert. 

5.  Tell  the  story  of  Pizarro  and  the  Incas.  Who  were  the 
Quichuas?  Describe  Indian  life  on  the  plateau.  Contrast  our 
treatment  of  the  Indians  with  that  of  the  Spaniards.  Describe  Cuzco 
as  it  is  to-day.     What  North  American  Indians  resembled  the  Incas? 

6.  Trace  our  trip  through  Peru.  What  is  the  chief  port?  How 
far  is  it  from  Panama,  New  Orleans,  and  New  York?  Write  a  story 
of  our  walk  about  Lima.  Why  are  many  of  the  houses  made 
of  mud  and  bamboo?  Mention  some  of  the  things  to  be  seen  in 
the  markets.  Compare  Lima  in  size  with  the  other  South  American 
capital  cities. 

7.  Tell  about  the  mines  of  Cerro  de  Pasco  which  are  owned  by 
North  Americans.     What  important  metals  come  from  them? 

8.  What  is  vanadium?  Where  is  the  chief  source  of  supply? 
Why  was  vanadium  necessary  in  the  World  War  ?  Trace  a  shipment 
from  near  Cuzco  to  Pittsburgh. 

9.  Describe  a  railroad  trip  up  the  Andes.  How  does  the  altitude 
affect  us?     What  is  soroche? 

10.  What  grains  and  vegetables  do  we  see  upon  the  plateau? 
Where  were  potatoes  first  grown  ?  What  other  grains  or  vegetables 
came  from  America  ?     What  is  chuno  ? 


TRAVELS  IN  BOLIVIA 


117 


11,  Compare  Lake  Titicaca  with  one  of  our  Great  Lakes.  What 
is  its  outlet?  What  products  are  shipped  across  this  lake  to  be 
taken  to  the  United  States?  Describe  our  steamer  and  the  native 
boats. 

12.  What  are  llamas ?  Alpacas?  Vicunas?  What  other  animals 
have  wool  fit  for  cloth?  (See  Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is 
Clothed.") 


XV.     TRAVELS   IN   BOLIVIA 


WE  are  in  BoKvia  this  morning,  and  we  should  feel  at 
home.  The  country  was  named  for  Simon  Bolivar, 
and  its  constitution  is  modeled  after  ours.  Bolivar  is  often 
called  the  George 
Washington  of  South 
America.  He  was 
born  in  Caracas 
(ka-ra'kas) ,  Ven- 
ezuela, at  about  the 
close  of  our  Revolu- 
tionary War.  He 
visited  the  United 
States,  and  during 
that  time  was  so  im- 
pressed with  our  gov- 
ernment that  he 
went  back  to  South 
America  and  started 
the  revolution  which  spread  from  country  to  country  and 
finally  made  it  a  land  of  republics. 

Bolivia  is  situated  many  miles  from  the  Pacific  Ocean 
and  is  cut  off  from  the  seacoast  by  Peru  and  Chile.  With 
the  exception  of  Paraguay,  it  is  the  only  country  in  South 


Ii8  SOUTH   AMERICA 

America  that  does  not  have  direct  access  to  the  ocean. 
It  has  three  railways,  however,  which  connect  it  with  the 
Pacific.  One  goes  to  the  port  of  Mollendo  in  Peru ;  an- 
other to  Arica  (a-re'ka)  in  Chile ;  and  a  third  to  Antofagasta 
(an-to-fa-gas'ta)  in  Chile.  Through  each  of  these  ports 
Bohvia  has  considerable  commerce  with  our  country  and 
Europe  by  way  of  the  Panama  Canal.  The  eastern  parts 
of  the  country,  consisting  of  the  rich  tropical  plains  sloping 
down  the  opposite  side  of  the  Andes,  have  access  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  through  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
Amazon  and  Parana  (pa-ra-na')  rivers.  Rubber  and  other 
products,  for  instance,  are  sent  down  the  Beni  (ba-ne') 
River  to  the  Madeira,  where  they  are  carried  by  railroad 
around  the  great  falls  and  then  transferred  to  steamers 
which  take  them  to  the  Amazon  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
Other  goods  go  down  the  Pilcomayo  (pel-ko-ma'yo)  River 
into  the  Paraguay ;  thence  to  the  Parana  and  via  Buenos 
Aires  (bwa'nos  I'ras)  out  to  the  sea. 

It  is  hard  to  realize  that  this  inland  republic  is  about 
one  sixth  as  large  as  the  United  States  without  Alaska. 
The  country  may  be  divided  into  two  sections.  Western 
Bolivia,  whose  chief  city  is  La  Paz,  is  a  tableland  as  big  as 
Missouri,  much  of  which  is  more  than  two  and  one  half 
miles  above  sea  level.  It  is  one  of  the  highlands  of  the 
Andes,  and  is  looked  down  upon  by  some  of  the  highest 
of  these  mountains.  It  is  a  dry,  thirsty  country,  and  in 
many  respects  is  like  the  high  plains  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Eastern  Bolivia,  whose  chief  city  is  Santa 
Cruz  (san'ta  krooz'),  is  equal  to  ten  states  the  size  of  South 
Carolina.  It  is  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Andes,  and  much 
of  it  is  covered  with  vegetation  which  includes  all  the  plants 
and  trees  of  the  tropics. 

The   climate  of   the   country   differs   according   to   the 


TRAVELS  IN  BOLIVIA  119 

altitude  of  the  various  regions.  The  low  eastern  plains 
are  hot  and  unhealthful.  A  little  higher  the  climate  is 
temperate,  and  on  the  Andean  plateaus  and  high  valleys 
the  weather  is  so  pleasant  that  the  region  is  often  called 
the  "Switzerland  of  America."  These  highlands  comprise 
only  about  three  tenths  of  the  total  area  of  the  country, 
but  they  contain  more  than  eight  tenths  of  the  people. 
Here  are  all  the  large  cities,  most  of  which  are  located 
more  than  two  miles  above  the  sea.  There  are  four  towns 
which  are  about  as  high  up  in  the  air  as  Pikes  Peak,  and 
twenty-five  which  are  liigher  than  the  top  of  Fujiyama  in 
Japan.  The  altitude  of  Aullagas  (oul-lii'gas)  is  almost  as 
high  as  Mont  Blanc. 

Eastern  BoHvia  is  a  land  of  cattle,  cacao,  and  rubber. 
It  has  dense  forests  and  rich  grassy  plains,  but  it  is  largely 
unsettled  and  much  of  it  still  unexplored.  The  mountains 
and  plateaus  of  the  west  are  where  most  of  the  people  live. 
They  contain  vast  deposits  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  tin. 
Bolivia  produces  much  of  the  tin  used  in  the  United 
States,  and  next  to  Malaysia  has  the  largest  tin  mines 
of  the  world. 

BoHvia  has  a  small  population  for  such  a  vast  area.  The 
whole  country  has  about  as  many  people  as  Chicago ;  and 
its  chief  city.  La  Paz,  has  only  about  one  hundred  thousand. 
Sucre  (soo'kra),  the  old  capital,  has  about  tliirty  thousand, 
and  Cochabamba,  situated  in  a  beautiful  valley,  is  a  Httle 
larger.  The  mining  towns  of  Potosi  (p5-to-se')  and  Oruro 
(o-roo'ro)  are  of  about  the  same  size.  Santa  Cruz  in 
eastern  Bolivia  is  smaller. 

The  people  are  whites  and  of  the  mixed  race  of"  whites 
and  Indians,  with  many  semi-ci\ilized  Indians  upon  the 
plateaus  and  savages  of  various  tribes  in  the  wilds  of  the 
east.     The   Indians   of   the   plateau    are   Aymaras,    tribes 


TRAVELS   IN   BOLIVIA  1 21 

much  like  the  Quichuas  of  Peru.  They  were  conquered 
by  the  Incas,  whose  soldiers  were  Quichuas.  The  people 
of  the  mixed  race  are  called  Cholos  (cho'los),  and  their 
little  children  are  known  as  Cholitos  (cho-le'tos). 

La  Paz  lies  only  about  fifty  miles  from  Lake  Titicaca, 
where  we  are  now.  The  train  is  ready,  but  we  want  to 
see  the  country,  and  so  take  a  carriage  drawn  by  eight 
mules.  The  Indian  driver  has  a  pile  of  stones  in  the  seat 
beside  him,  and  he  keeps  his  team  on  the  gallop  by  now 
and  then  throwing  a  pebble  at  the  ears  of  such  of  the  animals 
as  are  lagging  behind. 

The  ride  is  delightful.  We  are  on  the  high  plateau. 
The  air  is  bracing  and  so  clear  we  can  see  for  miles. 
To  the  east  is  a  great  wall  of  snow-clad  mountains,  with 
IlHmani  rising  above  the  rest  of  the  peaks,  and  away  off 
to  the  west  are  lower  heights  which  seem  to  climb  over 
one  another  and  end  in  snow  at  the  sky.  Now  we  pass 
a  mud  hut,  and  now  a  flock  of  llamas,  alpacas,  or  sheep 
feeding  on  the  tliin  grass.  But  other  than  these  there  is 
nothing  about  us  but  the  sky,  the  plains,  and  the  mountains. 

As  we  near  the  close  of  the  day  we  look  for  the  city  to 
which  we  are  going.  There  is  nothing  in  sight.  We  are 
hungry,  and  wonder  whether  we  shall  get  there  before  dark, 
when  at  last  the  driver  pulls  up  the  mules  on  their  haunches 
and  the  stage  stops.  We  are  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice;, 
a  thousand  feet  below  us  in  a  little  gorge  in  the  mountains 
is  La  Paz. 

It  is  so  far  down  that  we  can  hardly  distinguish  the  houses. 
They  look  like  a  jumble  of  gay-colored  boxes  \\'ith  trees 
rising  here  and  there  above  their  red  roofs.  They  grow 
plainer  as  we  gallop  on  our  winding  way  down  the  steep 
slopes  of  the  hill.  We  are  soon  riding  between  walled 
gardens,  and  at  last  the  stage  stops  in  the  heart  of  the  city. 


122  SOUTH  AMERICA 

How  queer  it  all  is !  Most  of  the  people  about  us  are 
clad  in  the  brightest  of  reds,  blues,  and  greens.  Every 
other  man  wears  a  poncho,  or  blanket,  with  his  head 
through  a  hole  in  its  center,  and  some  of  the  women  have 
striped  shawls,  short  skirts  of  bright  hues,  and  queerly 
shaped  hats.  Five  eighths  of  the  population  are  Indians, 
and  the  remainder  are  whites  or  of  the  mixed  race  of 
Indians  and  whites  called  Cholos. 

Even  the  houses  are  a  blaze  of  color,  and  the  walls  facing 
the  streets  are  of  various  hues.  There  is  a  lavender 
grocery  store ;  next  to  it  a  shoe  shop  of  rose  pink ;  and 
farther  on  are  other  estabUshments  of  cream  and  sky  blue. 
The  buildings  are  of  one  or  two  stories.  The  shops  are 
open  to  the  street  and  we  can  see  all  that  goes  on  within. 

But  where  can  we  get  a  cab  or  dray  to  carry  our  baggage 
to  the  hotel?  There  is  none  in  sight,  and  we  learn  that 
there  are  few  in  La  Paz.  The  streets  are  so  narrow  and 
so  up  hill  and  down  that  such  vehicles  are  not  much  used 
in  the  city,  and  all  freighting  is  done  by  donkeys,  ponies, 
llamas,  and  men.  There  are  a  dozen  Indian  porters  around 
the  stage  office,  and  we  give  each  man  a  trunk.  He  trots 
off  to  the  hotel  with  it  on  his  back,  and  we  walk  behind. 

Next  morning  we  start  out  for  a  tour  of  the  city,  going  up 
the  hills  slowly,  for  the  air  is  so  thin  that  we  are  soon  out 
of  breath.  La  Paz  is  twice  as  high  above  the  sea  as  Mount 
Washington,  and  only  the  natives  can  walk  fast  or  run  at 
this  altitude. 

We  visit  the  markets.  It  is  early  morning  but  the 
streets  are  filled  with  Indians,  Cholos,  and  whites,  dressed 
in  all  colors  of  the  rainbow.  There  are  scores  of  country 
women  carr3dng  fruit  and  vegetables  to  the  markets  for 
sale.  Their  burdens  are  tied  in  striped  blankets  of  blue, 
red,  yellow,  and  green,  and  they  bend  half  double  as  they 


La  Paz,  the  seat  of  the  Bolivian  government,  Hes  at  the  bottom  of 
a  mountain  valley,  looo  feet  deep,  with  the  volcano  of  Illimani  tower- 
ing over  it.     The  city  is  more  than  12,000  feet  above  the  sea. 

123 


124 


TRAVELS  IN  BOLIVIA  125 

walk  onward.  They  sit  down  on  the  streets  and  spread 
their  wares  out  before  them,  peddling  them  by  the  piece 
or  the  pile. 

There  are  Indian  men  wearing  gay  ponchos,  and  so  many 
copper-skinned  babies  that  we  have  to  pick  our  way  care- 
fully to  keep  from  treading  upon  them.  Some  he  on  the 
cold  stones  and  play  with  the  merchandise  scattered  about. 
Others  are  too  young  to  crawl ;  their  big  black  eyes  peep 
out  of  the  shawls  in  which  they  are  tied  to  the  backs  of  their 
mothers.  Most  of  the  babies  are  laughing.  There  is  one 
crying,  and  over  there  is  another  who  has  crawled  away 
from  its  mamma  and  is  almost  under  the  feet  of  those  llamas 
coming  up  the  street.  Now  its  mother  sees  it  and  grabs 
it  away. 

Stop  and  look  at  the  queer  things  for  sale  all  around  us. 
What  funny  potatoes !  Those  in  that  pile  near  us  are  no 
bigger  than  chestnuts ;  they  are  as  pink  as  the  toes  of  the 
baby  who  is  playing  among  them.  Here  are  some  of  a 
violet  color,  while  those  in  the  next  pile  are  as  black  as  my 
boots.  The  white  ones  are  chuno,  and  have  been  frozen 
for  sale. 

See  the  great  variety  of  fruits.  We  find  quinces,  peaches, 
and  pears  on  every  corner,  as  well  as  oranges,  lemons,  and 
pineapples.  The  latter  fruits  come  from  the  lowlands, 
for  it  is  only  a  few  days'  ride  on  muleback  from  La  Paz 
to  the  tropical  valleys  found  here  and  there  in  the  Andes. 
The  various  depressions  give  all  sorts  of  cUmates  and  all 
kinds  of  fruits. 

Eastern  Bolivia  is  naturally  one  of  the  richest  lands  of 
the  world.  Below  the  plateau  and  over  the  range  at  the 
east  are  great  plains  upon  which  vast  herds  of  cattle  and 
sheep  are  pastured.  Lower  still  are  forests  of  about  forty 
million  acres  in  which  rubber  trees  grow,  and  as  much  as 


126*  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ten  million  pounds  of  rubber  has  been  gathered  there  in 
one  year.  The  rubber  is  shipped  down  the  Beni  and 
Madeira  rivers  to  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon,  and  much 
of  it  goes  from  there  to  the  United  States. 

It  is  in  these  regions  that  we  find  Indians  so  savage  that 
some  of  them  are  said  to  be  cannibals.  The  children  of 
many  of  the  tribes  go  about  naked  or  with  only  a  cloth 
around  the  waist.  The  women  wear  plates  of  wood  and 
metal  in  the  lobes  of  their  ears.  Some  of  the  Indians 
make  war  upon  white  men,  using  blowguns  and  poisoned 
arrows,  the  slightest  scratch  of  which  causes  speedy  death. 
The  guns  are  hollow  reeds  about  ten  feet  in  length. 

On  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Andes,  by  a  short  ride  on 
muleback,  we  could  reach  the  Yungas  valley  where  there 
are  plantations  of  coffee,  coca,  and  cinchona  (sin-ko'na)  trees. 

Have  you  heard  of  cinchona?  Perhaps  not,  but  most 
of  us  at  one  time  or  another  have  had  to  take  quinine. 
Quinine  comes  from  the  bark  of  the  cinchona  tree.  It  is 
a  bitter,  white  powder  especially  good  for  malarial  fevers. 
We  shall  need  to  take  plenty  of  it  with  us  when  we  go  up 
the  Amazon. 

We  see  loads  of  cinchona  bark  on  the  streets  of  La  Paz. 
That  little  donkey  just  turning  the  corner  has  a  bundle  of 
it  on  each  side  of  his  back.  Other  donkeys  are  coming 
behind  him,  each  of  which  carries  a  load  into  La  Paz.  Here 
it  will  be  repacked  and  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Let  us  go  and  pull  out  a  piece  of  the  bark  and  take  a  bite  of 
it.     How  bitter  it  is !     It  tastes  like  quinine. 

Bolivia  yields  the  best  of  this  product,  although  cinchona 
trees  are  found  all  along  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Andes 
between  here  and  Colombia.  All  of  our  quinine  once 
came  from  wild  trees,  but  Java  and  Ceylon  have  now  great 
cinchona  plantations  which  produce  more  quinine  than  all 


A  bread  peddler  of  Cochabamba. 
127 


^■■..k 


128 


TRAVELS  IN   BOLIMA  129 

South  America.  Cinchona  groves  are  now  being  planted 
in  BoHvia. 

The  bark  we  tasted  on  the  streets  of  La  Paz  was  gathered 
from  the  forests  at  the  head  of  the  Beni  River.  It  was  carried 
through  the  woods  for  miles  on  the  backs  of  Indians,  and  was 
then  placed  upon  the  donkeys  which  brought  it  to  La  Paz. 

But  what  is  that  we  see  on  those  other  donkeys  which 
are  now  going  by  us  ?  They  are  loaded  with  great  bundles 
of  what  looks  Hke  dried  green  leaves.  Those  are  the  coca 
leaves  from  which  is  made  cocaine,  a  drug  employed  to 
deaden  pain.  Dentists  often  put  cocaine  into  one's  gum 
when  a  sensitive  tooth  is  to  be  filled. 

Coca  is  chewed  by  the  Indians  of  the  Bolivian  plateau 
much  as  some  men  chew  tobacco.  Every  Indian  we  meet 
has  a  lump  of  it  inside  his  cheek,  and  men,  women,  and 
children  are  chewing  it  all  day  long.  The  Indians  in  the 
mines  will  not  work  unless  their  employers  give  them,  in 
addition  to  their  wages,  a  certain  amount  of  coca  leaves 
every  day.  They  would  rather  have  coca  than  coffee, 
tea,  or  tobacco.  Vast  quantities  of  it  are  produced  every 
year.  It  is  shipped  on  llamas  and  donkeys  to  all  parts  of 
BoKvia  and  also  to  Peru  and  Chile. 

We  must  not  confound  coca  with  cacao,  the  tree  from 
wliich  our  chocolate  comes.  The  coca  plant  is  a  shrub 
which  grows  from  four  to  six  feet  in  height.  It  has 
leaves  much  like  our  wintergreen.  They  are  stimulating, 
and  the  Indians  tell  us  that  chewing  them  will  not  only 
keep  out  the  cold,  but  will  satisfy  hunger. 

We  try  a  chew  ourselves,  putting  some  lime  with  it  as 
the  Indians  do ;  but  the  leaves  taste  bitter,  the  lime  burns 
our  tongues,  and  as  the  habit  is  disgusting,  we  decide  to 
leave  coca  alone. 

Leaving  the  markets,  we  walk  about  through  the  business 


I30  SOUTH   AMERICA 

streets,  stopping  now  and  then  to  ask  the  merchants  to 
show  us  their  goods  from  our  country.  We  find  that 
Bolivia  is  using  cotton  and  woolen  goods  from  New  England, 
canned  beef  and  other  meats  from  our  great  packing 
centers,  and  office  desks,  motor  trucks,  and  automobiles 
from  Micliigan.  There  are  many  typewriters  and  small 
sewing  machines,  and  all  the  cameras  and  phonographs 
so  well  known  to  us.  We  drop  into  a  moving  picture 
show  where  our  films  are  shown,  among  them  views  of 
Bolivian  railroads  built  by  our  citizens. 

Teachers  from  the  United  States  are  employed  in  the 
BoHvian  schools,  and  there  is  a  school  for  Indians  on 
the  shores  of  Lake  Titicaca  which  is  greatly  improving  the 
tribes  of  the  high  plateau.  At  La  Paz  is  a  college  for  the 
higher  education  of  Bolivian  youth  which  is  supported  by 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States,  and 
there  are  other  such  schools  in  Cochabamba,  a  city  of 
about  thirty  thousand  people  which  is  three  days'  journey 
on  muleback  from  La  Paz.  The  schools  of  Bolivia  are 
steadily  improving.  The  boys  and  girls  are  becoming  fond 
of  athletics,  and  there  are  Boy  Scouts  who  do  much  the 
same  work  as  our  'Boy  Scouts  at  home. 

We  find  that  La  Paz  has  many  well-educated  people. 
It  has  a  public  library  and  a  museum,  and  the  country 
is  steadily  advancing  in  education  and  prosperity. 

XVI.  THE  MINERAL  WEALTH  OF  THE 
ANDES 

AT  La  Paz  we  are  not  far  from  some  of  the  richest  mining 
regions  of  the  world.  The  lofty  Andes  throughout 
their  whole  length  from  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  the 
Strait  of  Magellan  contain  gold.     We  found  gold,  silver, 


MINERAL   WEALTH   01'  THE  ANDES  131 

and  platinum  in  Colombia,  and  copper,  silver,  and  gold 
in  Ecuador  and  Peru.  The  Sorata  range  which  now  looks 
down  upon  us  has  rich  veins  of  tin,  and  vast  quantities 
of  copper  are  yearly  taken  out  of  the  mountains  to  the 
north  and  the  south. 

There  is  so  much  gold  on  the  east  slope  of  the  Peruvian 
Andes  that  during  the  floods  the  streams  wash  down  grains 
and  nuggets  of  this  precious  metal.  Many  of  the  streams 
are  dry  part  of  the  year,  and  the  Indians  have  paved  them 
with  stones  so  that  the  gold  is  caught  in  the  cracks  and 
may  be  picked  up  when  the  water  is  low.  This  was  one 
of  the  mining  methods  of  the  Incas,  and  from  it  came 
much  of  the  gold  which  the  Spaniards  took  from  them. 

During  our  travels  through  Bolivia  we  see  the  miners 
washing  gravel  in  many  places.  They  are  usually  Indians 
employed  by  white  men.  There  are  some  at  work  near 
La  Paz.  They  take  the  gravel  and  dirt  from  the  banks  of 
the  streams  and  roll  it  about  in  wooden  bowls  as  big  as 
those  in  which  we  knead  bread.  From  time  to  time  they 
throw  the  muddy  water  out  of  the  bowls,  continuing  to 
do  so  until  nothing  but  gravel  is  left.  The  miners  then  take 
out  the  gravel,  handful  by  handful,  looking  it  over  and 
dropping  back  into  the  bowl  any  little  yellow  bits  they 
may  see.  Finally  all  the  stones  have  been  thrown  out. 
and  there  remains  a  Httle  pile  of  yellow  pebbles  and  grains, 
some  of  which  are  no  bigger  than  the  point  of  a  needle. 
This  is  the  gold.  Such  methods  of  mining  are  wasteful, 
for  the  gold  dust  is  often  so  fine  that  the  grains  cannot  be 
seen.  It  is  only  lately  that  modern  methods  of  mining 
have  been  employed. 

When  we  visit  the  silver  mines  we  find  that  most  of  the 
work  there  is  done  with  rude  tools.  In  the  older  mines 
the  Indians  use  hammers  and  drills  to  break  up  the  ore. 


132  SOUTH  AMERICA 

They  carry  it  out  of  the  mines  on  their  backs  in  sacks  of 
rawhide. 

Silver  is  found  in  veins  of  ore  in  the  rocks,  and  these 
veins  often  extend  far  down  under  the  earth.  Some  of 
the  mines  are  very  deep.  The  Indians  cHmb  out  of  them 
on  ladders  or  notched  sticks,  with  heavy  sacks  of  ore  on 
their  backs.  They  work  almost  naked,  wearing  only 
breechcloths  about  their  waists  and  singing  weird  songs 
as  they  dig  out  the  silver. 

After  it  is  taken  out  the  ore  is  broken  up  into  small 
pieces  with  hammers  by  women  and  children.  The  best 
of  it  is  then  ground  to  powder  by  rolhng  great  stones  over 
it.  The  powder  is  mixed  with  mercury,  which  dissolves 
the  silver  out  of  the  dust,  and  by  other  chemical  processes 
it  is  then  made  ready  for  the  use  of  man. 

Some  of  the  richest  silver  mines  of  the  world  are  in  the 
Andes.  Here  on  this  high  Bolivian  plateau  is  a  strip  of 
country,  wider  than  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  and  as 
long  as  from  Philadelphia  to  Omaha,  which  is  dotted  with 
silver  mines.  There  is  one  mountain,  Potosi,  out  of  which 
has  been  taken  almost  three  billion  dollars'  worth  of  silver, 
—  enough  to  make  two  solid  silver  teaspoons  for  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  on  the  globe. 

We  leave  La  Paz  by  train  and  ride  all  day  across  the 
plateau  to  the  town  of  Oruro,  a  few  miles  from  Lake  Poopo, 
Oruro  is  a  little  city  lying  at  the  foot  of  rocky  mountains  > 
which  contain  rich  veins  of  silver  and  tin. 

Bolivia  was  long  considered  the  richest  silver  mining 
country  on  earth.  It  is  now  surpassed  by  one  region  only 
in  its  output  of  tin,  and  that  is  Malaysia,  away  on  the  other 
side  of  the  globe.  Some  tin  is  found  in  Australia,  in  Corn- 
wall, England,  in  Alaska  near  Bering  Strait,  and  in  other 
places,  but  not  in  large  quantities. 


MINERAL  WEALTH   OF  THE   ANDES  133 

The  tin  mines  of  Bolivia  are  near  Lake  Titicaca  and  Lake 
Poopo,  and  at  other  places  high  up  in  the  eastern  range 
of  the  Andes.  Some  of  the  richest  of  them  are  here  at 
Oruro.  We  visit  the  mines  and  watch  the  Indian  women 
and  children  breaking  the  ore  into  bits  and  picking  it  over. 
Tin  ore  looks  much  hke  dull  silver.  It  is  taken  out  of  the 
rocks  with  hammers  and  drills,  and  then  broken  to  pieces 


We  leave  La  Paz  by  train  and  take  all  day  to  pass  from  one  side  of 
the  Andean  plateau  to  the  other. 

and  ground  into  powder.  It  is  shipped  to  the  United 
States  or  England,  where  it  is  put  into  a  furnace  with  other 
materials  and  smelted.  Common  tinware  is  made  of  steel 
coated  with  tin. 

The  United  States  uses  more  tin  than  any  other  country, 
and  one  half  of  our  supply  comes  from  these  highlands. 
The  concentrates,  which  are  the  best  of  the  ore,  are  taken 
to  smelters  and  refineries  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 


134  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  hundreds  of  tons  of  metallic  tin  are  made  from  them 
every  month.  We  have  perhaps  washed  our  faces  in  basins 
coated  with  tin  from  Oruro,  and  eaten  fruit,  fish,  or  vege- 
tables from  cans  of  the  metal  which  once  lay  in  these 
mountains. 

1.  How  do  we  go  from  Peru  to  Bolivia?  What  is  the  shortest 
route  from  New  York  to  La  Paz?  How  did  the  country  get  its  name? 
What  countries  adjoin  BoHvia? 

2.  Compare  Bolivia  in  size  with  the  United  States;  with  your 
state  ;  with  Peru ;  with  Colombia.  Describe  its  two  sections.  With 
what  part  of  our  country  docs  the  plateau  compare?  To  what  two 
great  river  basins  does  eastern  Bolivia  belong?  Where  do  most  of 
the  people  live  ?     Why  ? 

3.  What  two  countries  of  South  America  have  no  seacoast?  How 
do  Bolivian  exports  reach  the  Pacific ?  The  Atlantic?  Trace  a  ship- 
ment of  rubber  from  eastern  Bolivia  to  San  Francisco  by  water. 

4.  Describe  La  Paz  and  its  people.  Why  might  the  chief  towns  be 
called  "  Cities  of  the  Sky" ? 

5.  What  kind  of  fruits  do  we  find  in  the  markets?  What  two 
medicines  or  drugs  come  from  Bolivia?  What  is  the  difference  be- 
tween coca  and  cacao  or  cocoa?  Give  some  of  the  uses  of  coca. 
What  do  we  get  from  the  cinchona  tree?  In  what  other  parts  of 
the  world  is  it  raised?  Trace  a  shipment  from  there  to  New  York, 
via  the  Suez  Canal ;  via  the  Panama  Canal  to  San  Francisco. 

6.  Who  are  the  Aymaras?  What  do  you  know  about  the  Incas? 
Who  are  the  Cholos?     Where  are  the  savage  Indians  found? 

7.  Compare  the  minerals  of  Bolivia  with  those  of  Peru,  Ecuador, 
and  Colombia.  (See  Tables  XI,  XII,  and  XIII.)  For  what  is  Mount 
Potosi  noted  ?  What  is  rubber  ?  How  is  it  gathered  ?  Follow  the 
travels  of  a  pencil  eraser  from  the  trees  of  Bolivia  to  your  home. 
About  how  far  does  it  travel  ?  What  other  lands  produce  rubber  ? 
(See  Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is  Clothed,"  pp.  240-261.) 

8.  Tell  the  story  of  your  trip  through  the  tin  mines.  Give  some 
of  the  uses  of  tin.  Follow  a  cargo  of  tin  ore  from  Oruro  to  the  smelters 
in  New  Jersey.  What  other  part  of  the  world  produces  more  tin? 
Trace  a  shipment  from  there  to  New  York.  In  what  part  of  the 
United  States  is  tin  found?  How  is  tin  manufactured?  (See 
Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is  Housed,"  chapter  20.) 


CHILE  135 

XVII.     CHILE  — THE   NITRATE   DESERT   AND 
THE   GUANO   ISLANDS 

PUT  on  your  dark  spectacles  this  morning.  You  will 
need  them  to  protect  your  eyes  from  the  sun,  for  we  are 
about  to  travel  again  over  the  glaring  sands  of  the  desert. 
The  country  about  Oruro  is  sterile,  and  the  part  of  Chile 
through  which  we  must  pass  on  our  way  down  to  the  sea 
is  among  the  most  barren  lands  of  the  world. 

We  take  the  httle  narrow-gauge  railroad,  built  from  La 
Paz  to  Antofagasta  to  bring  the  minerals  of  southern 
Bolivia  out  to  the  sea,  and  shoot  out  into  vast  plains  upon 
which  everything  looks  gray,  bare,  and  forbidding.  We 
cross  dazzling  fields  of  salt  left  by  the  evaporation  of  water 
from  the  lakes,  and  go  on  into  regions  of  volcanic  rock  upon 
which  nothing  green  grows. 

We  are  now  in  northern  Chile,  that  part  of  the  country 
which  belongs  to  the  great  South  American  desert.  Chile 
is  so  long  and  so  narrow  that  it  has  been  called  the  ''Shoe- 
string Republic."  It  lies  between  the  ocean  and  the  crest 
of  the  Andes,  having  nowhere  a  width  greater  than  the 
distance  from  New  York  to  Boston  and  in  some  places 
much  less.  It  is  so  long,  however,  that  if  laid  north  and 
south  upon  our  country  with  the  Strait  of  Magellan  at 
the  Florida  Keys,  its  most  northern  port,  that  of  Iquique 
(e-ke'ka),  would  be  in  northern  Newfoundland. 

Notwithstanding  its  long,  narrow  shape,  Chile  has  more 
land  than  any  country  in  Europe,  except  Russia.  It  is 
larger  than  our  state  of  Texas.  It  is  rich  in  mines,  farms, 
and  forests.  It  has  the  great  nitrate  beds  at  the  north, 
the  fertile  soil  of  the  long  central  valley,  and  the  forests  of 
the  temperate  zone  at  the  south. 

The  country  contains  nearly  four  million  inhabitants, 


136 


CHILE 


137 


who,  owing  to  the  temperate 
climate,  are  vigorous  and  brave. 
They  pride  themselves  also  on 
being  stronger  than  the  people 
farther  north.  They  are  like 
them,  however,  in  that  they  are 
the  descendants  of  Spaniards 
and  of  the  mixed  Indi^ja-  race. 
The  difference  is  that  the  Span- 
iards of  Chile  were  chiefly  from 
the  northern  provinces  of  Spain 
and  that  the  Indians  whom  they 
married  were  the  famed  Arau- 
canians,  a  stronger  and  braver 
race  than  those  with  whom  the 
whites  united  in  Ecuador  and 
Peru. 

On  our  way  to  the  coast  at 
over  two  and  one  half  miles 
above  the  sea  we  pass  by  Lake 
Ascotan,  on  the  surface  of  which 
are  what  look  like  great  cakes 
of  ice.  Our  lips  are  dry  and 
parched,  and  we  long  for  a  drink. 
The  train  stops  at  a  station  and 
we  ask  the  conductor  if  some  of 
the  ice  cannot  be  brought  into 
the  car.  He  rephes  that  the 
white  stuff  is  not  ice  at  all.  It 
is  borax,  and  the  water  of  the 
lake  is  not  fit  to  drink. 

He  brings  us  a  lump  of  borax 
from  a  pile  which  has  just  been 


138  SOUTH  AMERICA 

brought  to  the  cars  to  be  sent  off  to  Europe.  It  reminds 
us  of  the  finest  spun  silk  wadded  into  a  lump.  Borax 
is  used  in  making  beads,  glass,  and  cement,  and  for  glazing 
pottery  ware.  It  is  of  value  also  in  preserving  meat,  fish, 
and  milk,  and  in  some  kinds  of  medicines.  It  is  good  for 
sore  eyes  and  as  a  wash  for  the  hair.  Most  of  the  borax 
of  the  world  comes  from  here  and  from  the  borax  lakes  of 
California. 

Is  it  not  odd  that  such  a  thing  could  come  out  of  the 
earth?  Yes,  but  as  we  go  farther  down  toward  the  sea 
we  shall  enter  a  region  in  Cliile  that  is  even  more  strange. 
There  is  a  part  of  the  desert  where  for  hundreds  of  miles 
the  sands  are  underlaid  with  a  vast  bed  of  nitrate  of  soda. 

We  use  large  quantities  of  this  nitrate  in  the  United 
States,  and  more  than  a  million  tons  are  shipped  to  Europe 
from  this  desert  every  year.  Nitrate  of  soda  is  employed 
for  making  explosives  and  munitions,  and  during  the 
World  War  in  Europe  the  most  of  the  supply  from  Chile 
went  to  the  United  States  and  to  the  alKed  countries  of 
England  and  France.  In  one  year  our  factories  used  one 
million  tons  for  ammunition  alone.  Germany  was  so 
blockaded  she  could  not  import  nitrates,  and  she  had  to 
make  her  nitrates  from  the  air  by  electricity. 

Nitrates  are  among  our  most  important  fertilizers. 
They  are  used  in  raising  tobacco,  sugar  beets,  grain,  and 
(many  other  food  crops.  Almost  every  American  farmer 
uses  more  or  less  of  them,  and  they  are  exported  largely 
to  Europe.  The  Chilean  government  gets  the  most  of 
its  revenues  from  nitrates,  and  they  are  so  valuable  that 
cities  have  grown  up  on  this  barren  coast,  inhabited  by  the 
men  who  dig  out  the  mineral  and  prepare  it  for  sale.  Such 
a  town  is  Antofagasta,  where  we  end  our  railroad  journey 
from  the  plateau  to  the  sea.     It  is  one  of  the  most  thriving 


CHILE 


139 


\'^  N)TRATil'RdcK 


ports  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  South  America.  Making  our 
way  on  the  longitudinal  railway  through  the  nitrate  fields 
one  hundred  and  twelve  miles  to  the  north,  we  come  to  a 
still  larger  city,  Iquique,  the  chief  nitrate  port  of  the  world. 

What  a  queer  place  for  a  town !  Iquique  is  on  the  edge 
of  the  sea  below  rugged  hills.  It  is  an  oasis  city,  but 
there  is  not  a  blade  of  grass  in  the  country  about  it.  It 
has  not  a  drop  of  water  from  year's  end  to  year's  end  ex- 
cept that  which  is 
brought  to  it  in  an 
iron  pipe,  seventy- 
five  miles  long, 
which  connects  it 
with  some  springs 
near  the  foot  of  the 
mountains. 

Still,  Iquique  is 
a  live  modern  set- 
tlement. It  has 
stores,  schools, 
newspapers,  tele- 
phones, electric 
lights,  and  street 
cars.  We  can  buy  anything  we  want  in  its  markets,  in- 
cluding the  most  deHcious  fruits  and  the  best  of  fresh 
meats.  Such  things  are  brought  in  by  ships  from  other 
parts  of  the  coast,  and  the  money  to  pay  for  them  comes 
entirely  from  nitrate. 

The  nitrate  is  found  on  the  east  side  of  a  low  range  of 
hills  from  fifteen  to  ninety  miles  back  from  the  sea.  The 
nitrate  beds  are  usually  covered  with  layers  of  salt  rock 
and  sand,  but  in  some  places  they  lie  on  the  top  of  the 
ground.     They  were  probably  formed  when  the  desert  was 


SOFT  EARTH 


Diagram  of  nitrate  bed. 


I40 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


the  bed  of  an  inland  sea,  and  the  decay  of  vast  quantities 
of  seaweed  containing  nitrogen  produced  nitrate  of  soda. 
Nitrate  is  readily  dissolved  in  water,  and  if  the  region  were 
not  rainless,  the  beds  would  have  been  long  ago  washed  away. 
In  mining  the  rock,  a  hole  about  a  foot  wide  is  bored 
down  through  the  sand,  salt  rock,  and  nitrate  to  the  soft 


Blasting  the  nitrate  rock. 

earth  underneath.  A  small  boy  is  then  let  down  into  the 
hole.  He  scoops'  out  a  pocket  just  under  the  stratum  of 
nitrate  and  fills  it  v.'ith  powder,  inserting  a  fuse  which 
extends  up  over  the  top.  The  boy  is  then  pulled  out  and 
the  fuse  lighted.  A  loud  explosion  follows,  a  cloud  of 
yellow  smoke  and  dust  goes  into  the  air,  and  the  earth 
for  a  wide  distance  about  is  broken  to  pieces.  The  nitrate 
rock  is  then  dug  out  with  picks  and  crowbars. 


CHILE 


141 


The  rock  must  be  further  treated,  however,  before  it 
is  ready  for  sale.  Pure  nitrate  of  soda  is  not  found  in 
nature,  and  the  rock  we  see  thus  blown  out  of  the  desert 
is  more  than  half  dirt  and  sand.  It  is  loaded  on  carts 
and  carried  to  factories  which  have  been  built  in  the 
fields. 

The  lumps  of  nitrate  rock  are  thrown  into  tanks  of  water 


( )pening  up  a  trench  in  the  nitrate  beds  after  bla.sting. 


heated  by  steam  and  just  as  common  salt  dissohes  in  water, 
so  the  nitrate  is  dissolved  while  the  dirt  and  sand  drop  to 
the  bottom.  After  a  time  all  the  nitrate  of  soda  has  been 
taken  out  of  the  rock  by  the  boiling  water,  which  now  looks 
like  pale  maple  sirup.  This  fluid  is  drawn  from  the  boiler 
and  run  into  cooHng  tanks  where  the  nitrate  crystallizes 
and  sinks,  so  that  after  a  time  each  tank  is  tiMed  with  what 


142  SOUTH  AMERICA 

looks  like  white  sugar,  while  the  water  on  top  has  become 
almost  clear.  The  deposit  is  nitrate  of  soda.  The  sur- 
face water  is  now  allowed  to  flow  off  into  vats,  where  it 
is  saved  for  the  iodine  in  it.  The  nitrate  is  shoveled  out 
into  piles  to  dry  in  the  sun.  It  is  next  bagged  in  sacks 
of  three  hundred  pounds  each  and  taken  on  the  railroad 
to  the  seaports  to  be  shipped  to  the  markets. 

Is  it  not  curious  that  men  should  go  so  far  and  work  so 
hard  merely  to  get  food  for  crops?  Plants,  like  animals, 
cannot  live  and  grow  without  nitrogen  in  their  food.  The 
most  of  the  nitrate  is  used  on  lands  which  are  expected  to 
yield  large  and  valuable  crops. 

There  is  another  thing  that  comes  from  the  nitrate  rock 
that  is  carefully  saved.  This  is  iodine,  a  crystalline  sub- 
stance of  a  violet  color,  very  valuable  as  a  medicine  and  also 
used  in  making  dyes.  It  is  important  as  a  disinfectant  and 
was  largely  used  in  the  hospitals  and  on  the  battlefields 
during  the  World  War  in  Euxope  for  the  wounds  of  the 
soldiers.  Iodine  is  obtained  from  the  water  out  of  which 
the  nitrate  has  crystalHzed. 

Good  plant  foods  are  so  valuable  that  farmers  will  pay 
high  prices  for  them ;  and  vast  fortunes  have  been  made 
from  another  fertilizer  found  in  this  part  of  South  America. 
This  is  guano,  a  mixture  of  the  manure  of  birds,  and  of  dead 
seals  and  fish  found  in  beds  on  the  seacoast,  and  on  several 
volcanic  islands  not  far  from  the  shores  of  Peru  and  Chile. 
The  guano  islands  are  rocks  as  bare  as  the  desert.  They 
have  not  a  blade  of  grass  nor  any  green  thing  upon  them ; 
they  are  merely  masses  of  stone  covered  with  what  looks 
much  like  sand. 

If  you  stir  this  sand,  it  will  give  forth  a  smell  like  ammonia. 
Put  upon  the  soil,  it  causes  it  to  produce  the  most  bountiful 
crops.     If  we  should  stay  on  the  islands  overnight,  we  might 


CHILE 


143 


see  them  covered  by  the  birds  which  for  ages  have  chosen 
them  as  their  roosting  places  and  homes.  They  are  the 
homes  of  pehcans  and  sea  gulls,  which  feed  by  the  millions 
in  the  waters  of  this  part  of  the  Pacihc.  They  often  bring 
the  fish  they  have  caught  in  their  bills  to  the  islands  and 
leave  them  there.      During  certain  parts  of  the  year  manv 


These  islands  have  been  for  ages  the  resting  and  roosting  places  for 
millions  of  pelicans,  gulls,  and  other  fish-eating  birds. 

seals  come  here  to  breed,  and  they  often  crawl  out  of  the 
sea  upon  these  rocks  to  die. 

All  this  has  been  going  on  for  many  years,  and  the  result 
is  a  deposit  so  valuable  as  manure  that  ships  come  here 
to  take  it  to  our  country  and  Europe.  A  large  part  of  the 
supply  is  now  exhausted,  but  there  is  still  some  being  ex- 
ported. There  are  houses  upon  the  islands,  put  up  for  the 
men  who  dig  out  the  guano,  and  on  one  or  two  of  them  arc 


144  SOUTH   AMERICA 

little  railroads  made  to  carry  it  down  to  the  shores.  Like 
nitrate,  guano  can  accumulate  and  be  preserved  only  in 
nearly  rainless  regions. 

1.  Why  is  Chile  sometimes  called  the  "Shoestring  Republic"? 
What  countries  bound  it  on  the  north  and  east  ?  What  one  of  the 
United  States  is  nearest  it  in  size?  What  republic  of  South 
America  ? 

2.  What  two  products  come  from  the  desert? 

3.  Describe  Lake  Ascotan.  What  are  the  chief  uses  of  borax? 
Where  else  is  it  found  in  large  quantities? 

4.  What  is  nitrate  of  soda?  For  what  was  it  used  in  the  World 
War?  How  did  Germany  get  its  nitrates  during  the  war?  Describe 
a  trip  through  the  fields  and  tell  how  nitrate  is  mined.  Why  is 
every  American  farmer  interested  in  Chile?  Trace  a  shipment 
from  Iquique  to  a  farm  near  your  home.     How  far  does  it  travel? 

5.  What  other  product  comes  from  this  salt?  Why  do  our 
soldiers  carry  it  with  them  in  battle  ? 

6.  Where  are  the  two  chief  nitrate  ports?  Why  are  the  guano 
islands  of  value  to  the  world  ? 


XVIII.     ALONG   THE   COAST  TO   VALPARAISO 

IT  takes  us  five  days  to  go  from  Iquique  to  Valparaiso, 
the  chief  seaport  of  Chile.  The  sail  is  delightful. 
There  are  but  few  storms  along  the  west  coast,  and  almost 
every  day  we  make  a  new  port  at  which  we  see  many 
strange  things.  The  desert  continues  and  we  are  always  in 
sight  of  the  Andes.  Luscious  grapes  and  oranges  are 
brought  to  the  steamer  from  the  valley  oases,  and  we  now 
and  then  take  on  a  few  barrels  of  wine. 

While  our  steamer  stops  at  Antofagasta  we  have  time 
to  visit  one  of  the  largest  smelters  of  South  America.     It 


ALONG  THE   COAST  TO   VALPARAISO  145 

has  been  built  here  to  smelt  the  silver  out  of  the  ore  brought 
from  the  Andes.  The  ore  is  first  ground  to  powder  and 
made  into  bricks.  As  we  pass  through  the  yard  we  see 
a  large  plot  of  ground  upon  which  are  piled  enough  bricks 
to  build  a  big  house.  It  is  perhaps  the  richest  brickyard 
on  earth.  The  bricks  look  like  blocks  of  gray  sand,  but 
they  are  really  silver  ore,  ground  fine  and  molded  into  this 
^shape  so  that  the  ore  may  be  more  easily  smelted.  The 
smelting  is  done  in  huge  furnaces,  the  ore  being  heated 
with  other  materials  which  extract  the  pure  silver. 

Farther  down  the  coast  we  anchor  at  Coquimbo  (ko- 
kem'bo)  to  take  on  a  big  load  of  copper.  Hundreds  of  heavy 
bars  or  pigs  of  reddish-brown  metal  are  brought  out  to 
our  steamer  on  a  fighter  and  stored  in  the  hold. 

This  copper  comes  from  mines  owned  and  operated  by 
a  great  United  States  company,  and  the  metal  is  sent 
north  through  the  Panama  Canal  to  New  York.  There 
are  other  large  copper  mines  owned  by  the  same  company 
near  Antofagasta  and  also  at  Braden  in  the  mountains  near 
Santiago  much  farther  south.  We  learn  that  Chile  has 
vast  deposits  of  rich  copper  ore.  It  was  until  1875  the 
chief  copper  producer  of  the  world,  but  now  it  is  surpassed 
by  the  United  States  and  Japan.  The  copper  is  in  nuggets 
or  veins.  The  ore  is  mined,  smelted,  and  shipped  all 
over  the  world. 

Near  Coquimbo  is  also  a  mountain  of  iron  ore  which 
belongs  to  one  of  our  large  steel  corporations.  The  moun- 
tain contains  more  than  two  hundred  million  tons  of  ore 
rich  in  iron.  The  ore  is  taken  out  and  sent  via  the  Panama 
Canal  to  the  steel  works  at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania, 
and  other  places  not  far  from  our  Atlantic  ports. 

Soon  after  leaving  Coquimbo  we  notice  that  the  shores 
have  lost  their  gray,  dusty  look,  and  we  occasionally  see 


146 


ALONG  THE  COAST  TO  VALPARAISO  147 

a  tree  and  a  patch  of  green  grass.  We  are  out  of  the  desert 
at  last. 

We  sail  about  two  hundred  miles  farther  south  and 
finally  come  to  anchor  in  the  Bay  of  Valparaiso.  It  is 
shaped  Uke  a  half-moon,  being  walled  with  steep  hills 
covered  with  luxuriant  trees  and  beautiful  flowers.  A 
few  miles  inland  are  orange  and  lemon  groves,  vineyards, 
and  trees  bearing  almost  all  kinds  of  fruits ;  and  just 
over  the  mountains  is  the  long  valley  of  Chile,  one  of  the 
richest  farming  and  fruit-raising  regions  of  all  South 
America.     The  climate  is  hke  that  of  Italy  and  California. 

At  Valparaiso  we  are  not  halfway  to  the  southern  end 
of  the  Chilean  coast.  In  a  land  extending  so  far  north  and 
south  we  must  expect  all  sorts  of  climates.  It  was  hot  at 
Antofagasta,  but  the  winter  air  at  Valparaiso  is  pleasantly 
cool,  and  near  the  Strait  of  Magellan  the  ground  is  often 
covered  with  snow.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the 
amount  of  rainfall.  In  the  northern  desert  one  never  needs 
an  umbrella,  but  Valparaiso  has  occasional  rains  throughout 
the  year.  It  rains  more  and  more  farther  south,  and  in 
some  places  so  much  water  falls  that  the  people  jokingly 
say  it  rains  thirteen  months  every  year. 

But  what  is  the  cause  of  the  change?  Why  is  northern 
Chile  dry  and  the  greater  part  of  southern  Chile  so  wet? 
It  comes  from  the  winds.  We  have  learned  that  the 
desert  exists  because  all  the  water-laden  winds  come  from 
the  Atlantic  and  have  had  the  water  taken  out  of  them 
before  they  reach  the  west  slope.  The  winds  of  southern 
Chile  blow  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  toward  the  east.  As 
they  cross  the  Pacific  they  are  filled  full  of  moisture,  and 
when  they  rise  over  the  land  the  cooling  of  the  air  causes 
rain  to  fall.  Hence  we  find  copious  rains  feeding  the  many 
streams  that  flow  down  the  western  slope  of  the  Andes. 


148  SOUTH  AMERICA 

On  the  other  side  of  the  mountains  the  country  is  almost  a 
desert,  for  the  Pacific  winds  are  dry  when  they  reach  there. 

Valparaiso  is  almost  as  large  as  Indianapolis.  It  is  the 
chief  port  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  owing  its 
growth  to  its  excellent  harbor  and  the  rich  country  behind 
it.  It  was  almost  destroyed  by  a  great  earthquake  in 
1906,  but  it  has  since  been  rebuilt.  We  come  to  anchor 
among  steamers  from  different  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  Europe.  They  are  loading  and  discharging  goods. 
Some  are  taking  on  cattle,  wheat,  vegetables,  and  fruits 
for  the  cities  of  the  desert  farther  north,  and  others  are 
adding  to  their  cargoes  of  nitrates,  copper,  and  hides, 
which  they  are  transporting  from  Chile  to  Europe. 

The  business  of  the  port  has  been  greatly  increased  by 
the  Panama  Canal,  and  there  are  lines  of  steamers  which 
sail  regularly  between  Valparaiso  and  New  York.  They 
carry  ores  and  nitrates  as  well  as  hides  and  wool,  and 
eventually  they  will  transport  quantities  of  fruit,  for  Chile 
has  all  the  fruits  of  Cahfornia,  and  as  it  is  south  of  the 
equator  these  fruits  are  ripe  in  the  midst  ol  our  winter. 
Grapes,  melons,  and  peaches  may  thus  be  sent  in  cold 
storage  to  New  York  and  Boston.  Returning,  the  ships 
bring  back  to  Chile  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  manufactures 
of  iron  and  steel,  electrical  machinery,  locomotives,  motor- 
cars and  tractors,  and  many  kinds  of  farm  tools.  Shoes 
made  in  New  England  are  sold  here,  and  leather  made  in 
Chile  is  imported  by  the  United  States. 

We  take  a  boat  to  the  shore,  wondering  how  we  can  get 
up  the  hills  to  the  houses  above  us.  Valparaiso  rises  from 
the  water  like  the  grandstand  of  a  ball  ground.  The 
streets  are  in  terraces,  one  above  another,  so  that  the 
buildings  at  the  top  seem  to  hang  out  and  threaten  to  fall 
upon  those  below. 


ALONG  THE   COAST  TO   VALPARAISO  149 

But  see,  there  are  cable  cars  climbing  the  hills  !  It  is  by 
them  we  shall  mount  from  one  street  to  another,  for  the  only 
level  land  in  the  city  is  a  narrow  stretch  along  the  shore. 
This  is  the  business  part  of  Valparaiso,  and  it  was  built 
for  that  purpose.  The  hills  were  leveled  and  walls  were  built 
to  protect  the  land  from  the  waves. 

We  step  from  our  boat  upon  stone  wharves  and  walk 
over  streets  as  well  paved  as  any  in  our  cities  at  home. 
The  buildings  are  large,  and  the  stores  have  plate  glass 
windows.  There  are  English  names  over  some  of  them, 
and  we  learn  that  Valparaiso  has  many  Europeans  who 
have  come  here  to  engage  in  trade. 

The  people  do  not  look  very  different  from  those  of 
New  York  and  Chicago.  There  are  electric  Hghts,  motor- 
trucks, and  automobiles.  We  hear  boys  crying  the  news- 
papers and  remember,  as  we  notice  the  signs  of  enterprise 
about  us,  that  the  Chileans  are  among  the  most  progressive 
of  the  South  American  peoples.  We  hear  many  of  the 
Chileans  speak  English,  and  as  we  look  at  our  surroundings 
we  wonder  whether  Chile  is,  after  all,  much  different  from 
the  United  States. 

But  stop  !  Here  comes  a  lady  with  a  black  shawl  draped 
about  her  head,  and  behind  her  is  a  vegetable  peddler  with 
his  stock  in  panniers  on  the  sides  of  a  donkey.  There 
is  a  bread  mule,  ridden  by  the  baker,  and  a  milk  mule 
is  going  down  that  side  street.  Get  out  of  the  way  of  that 
carriage  with  its  high-stepping  horses  and  look  out  for  the 
horse  coming  around  the  corner !  Its  rider  wears  a  poncho 
and  a  broad-brimmed  hat.  He  is  probably  a  rich  farmer 
from  the  country.     We  shall  see  many  of  his  kind  later  on. 

What  a  queer  street  car  is  that  one  going  by  us !  It  has 
seats  on  top  as  well  as  inside.  See  the  pretty  woman  in 
uniform  on  the  rear  platform?     She  is  taking  the  fares 


ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA   BY  RAIL  151 

and  making  the  change  from  her  white  apron  pocket. 
There  are  women  conductors  in  all  the  chief  cities  of  Chile. 
The  custom  was  introduced  long  ago  when  Chile  was  at 
war  with  Peru  and  the  men  were  needed  as  soldiers. 

But  Valparaiso  has  so  many  foreigners  that  we  must  go 
inland  to  see  how  most  of  the  Chileans  live.  The  country 
has  many  railways,  and  we  decide  to  make  our  first  journey 
on  the  Transandine  line. 


oJOio 


XIX.     ACROSS   SOUTH  AMERICA   BY   RAIL 

WE  have  already  seen  something  of  the  railroads 
farther  north  which  go  from  the  west  coast  to  the 
top  of  the  Andes.  Let  us  look  at  a  map  representing  the 
railways  in  use  and  the  new  lines  projected.  Chile  has 
iron  tracks  from  one  end  almost  to  the  other,  and  its  public 
roads  if  joined  together  would  reach  around  the  world. 
The  first  railways  of  the  country  were  built  by  a  Calif ornian, 
and  many  of  the  rails,  locomotives,  and  cars  now  in  use 
came  from  the  United  States.  Some  of  the  railways  are 
operated  by  electricity  rather  than  steam.  Fuel  is  costly, 
and  the  short,  fast-flowing  streams  give  an  abundance  of 
power  with  which  to  generate  electric  current. 

The  road  upon  which  we  are  riding  to-day  has  brought 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  together.  It  is  the  Trans- 
andine railroad  from  Valparaiso  to  Buenos  Aires.  Our 
car  is  a  Pullman  and  we  can  see  the  country  well  as  we  go. 
Leaving  Valparaiso,  the  train  skirts  the  harbor,  passing 
through  the  rich  suburb  of  Vina  del  Mar  (ve'na  del  mar'). 

How  soft  the  air  is  and  how  sweet  the  smell  of  the  trees 
and  grass  after  our  long  stay  in   the  desert !     Morning 


152  SOUTH   AMERICA 

glories  are  blooming  on  the  fences,  and  that  great  bush  over 
there  is  loaded  with  roses.  Now  we  whiz  by  an  orange 
grove,  almost  close  enough  to  pick  the  yellow  balls  peeping 
out  of  the  leaves,  now  by  vineyards,  and  now  stop  at  a 
station  at  which  pears,  figs,  and  lemons  are  brought  to  the 
car  windows  for  sale.  How  cheap  everything  is !  We 
can  get  a  basket  of  grapes  or  all  the  oranges  we  can  eat  for 
a  dime. 

By  and  by  the  road  leaves  the  coast,  and  we  climb  over 
the  hills  to  the  central  valley  which  forms  the  best  farming 
region  of  Chile.  There  is  but  Httle  green  except  where 
the  land  is  irrigated.  See  the  men  at  work  in  the  fields. 
There  is  one  plowing.  He  has  two  white  oxen  joined  to 
the  plow  by  a  pole.  The  pole  is  tied  to  the  yoke,  which 
rests  on  the  necks  of  the  oxen  just  back  of  the  horns,  to 
which  it  is  fastened  with  strips  of  rawhide. 

The  houses  of  the  Chilean  towns  are  similar  to  those  we 
saw  on  the  coast  of  Peru.  There  are  many  huts  in  the 
fields.  They  are  made  of  mud  with  roofs  of  straw  thatch, 
or  sheet  iron. 

As  we  cross  the  coast  range  the  farms  grow  larger  and  the 
country  is  more  thickly  peopled.  We  ride  for  some  time 
through  the  irrigated  valley  of  the  Aconcagua  River  with 
the  mighty  mountains  rising  above  us.  We  now  pass 
orchards  of  apples  and  peaches,  with  rich,  well-watered 
gardens  high  up  in  the  hills.  The  country  grows  wilder, 
and  at  last  we  are  at  Los  Andes  (los  an'das),  the  last 
station  of  Chile.  We  are  near  the  frontier  of  Argentina, 
where  the  road  joins  the  Argentina  railway  that  crosses 
the  Andes  and  goes  on  over  the  pampas  through  the  farms 
and  pasture  lands  to  Buenos  Aires.  We  have  not  time 
now  to  make  the  whole  journey,  for  we  expect  to  go  around 
the  southern  end  of  the  continent  by  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 


THE     CUMfeRC 


»^--^w\ 


BowAiiy  line    V— V 

Republic  a 


10^ 


V^^'' 


4 


i.-^  ^ 


-^^iC^ 


On  the  Transandine  railway.     The  cross  marks  the  site  of  the 
Christ  of  the  Andes,  2000  feet  above  the  tunnel. 


153 


154  SOUTH   AMERICA 

So  we  shall  ride  on  the  railroad  only  to  the  top  of  the 
mountains ;  from  there  taking  mules  to  see  something  of 
this  part  of  the  Andes  before  returning  to  go  farther  south. 

Our  mules  take  us  over  the  old  wagon  road  that  crosses 
the  mountains  at  the  Uspallata  (oos-pai-ya'ta)  Pass.  This 
is  about  two  and  one  half  miles  above  the  sea,  and  the  place 
where  it  crosses  the  boundary  between  Argentina  and 
Chile  is  marked  by  an  heroic  bronze  figure  upholding  a 
cross,  with  these  words  on  the  pedestal : 

"Sooner  shall  these  mountains  crumble  to  dust  than 
Argentines  and  Chileans  break  the  peace  to  which  they 
have  pledged  themselves  at  the  feet  of  Christ  the  Re- 
deemer." 

This  statue  is  known  as  the  "Christ  of  the  Andes."  It 
was  erected  fifteen  years  before  the  close  of  the  World  War, 
and  we  are  impressed  with  the  fact  that  these  South 
American  republics  so  long  ago  strove  for  international 
peace  and  brotherly  love. 

The  old  road  over  the  Andes  can  be  traveled  easily  in 
summer.  In  winter  the  snows  are  so  heavy  that  men  are 
often  lost  in  the  storms  and  sometimes  spend  many  days 
on  the  way.  That  is  why  the  Uttle  stone  huts  we  pass 
now  and  then  have  been  built.  They  are  to  shelter  the 
passengers  and  mail  carriers  when  caught  in  the  storms. 
Men  sometimes  have  to  wait  herej  for  days  for  the  storm 
to  cease.  The  huts  have  no  windows,  and  are  more  Like 
bake-ovens  than  houses.  There  are  also  several  rude 
inns  where  we  stop.  The  hot  soup  tastes  good,  we  are  so 
cold. 

This  range  of  the  Chilean  Andes  is  wild  in  the  extreme. 
One  of  the  worst  parts  of  it  is  the  pass  called  the  Valley 
of  Desolation.  It  is  covered  with  volcanic  rock  upon 
which  nothing  grows.     The  only  Hfe  to  be  seen  are  the 


The  Christ  of  the  Amies,  a   hroii/.c  sialuc  ncricd  lo  i ommemorate 
the  making  of  peace  between  Chile  and  Argentina. 


155 


156  SOUTH   AMERICA 

condors  soaring  high  overhead  or  the  guanacos  racing  over 
the  snow.  There  is  a  condor  flying  between  us  and  the 
sun.  It  casts  a  black  shadow  upon  the  white  snow.  Con- 
dors are  Hke  vultures.  They  will  eat  any  dead  animal, 
and  we  are  wondering  whether  the  mighty  bird  is  not 
waiting  to  see  us  drop  in  our  tracks. 

The  highest  part  of  the  Transandine  railway  was  diflicult 
to  build.  It  has  many  tunnels.  The  cars  are  taken  up 
the  steepest  part  of  the  mountains  by  a  track  like  that  up 
Pikes  Peak  and  Mount  Washington.  This  track  has  three 
rails.  In  addition  to  the  two  of  the  ordinary  railroad 
there  is  a  third  rail  with  rungs  in  it  like  a  ladder.  Upon 
this  moves  a  cogwheel  attached  to  the  car,  and  the  little 
engine  runs  behind  the  train  and  pushes  it  up  the  mountains. 
About  two  miles  above  the  sea  is  a  tunnel,  and  there  are 
also  many  snowsheds  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock  to  protect 
the  trains  from  drifts  in  the  winter. 

The  Transandine  railway  is  of  great  good  to  South 
American  travelers.  We  shall  see  why  as  we  go  to  Buenos 
Aires  by  the  old  route  around  the  southern  end  of  the 
continent.  The  voyage  from  Valparaiso  by  the  Strait  of 
Magellan  takes  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  days  and  is  often 
stormy  and  rough.  By  the  railway,  the  distance  is  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-eight  miles,  or  less  than  that  between 
New  York  and  Chicago,  and  passengers  are  carried  across 
the  continent  in  twenty-nine  hours.  This  makes  the  trip 
from  Europe  to  the  west  coast  of  South  America  much 
shorter,  and  travelers  from  Great  Britain  to  Australia 
can  reach  Buenos  Aires  in  about  twenty  days,  cross  South 
America  by  rail,  and  take  ship  at  Valparaiso,  instead  of 
making  the  long  voyage  through  the  Strait  of  Magellan, 
or  the  shorter  one  by  the  Panama  Canal. 

This  railway  is  now  the  chief  route  across  South  America 


Ilic   \'alley  of  Desolation,  showing  Mt.  Acoiuagu.i 
157 


158 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


from  ocean  to  ocean.  There  is  another  transcontinental 
route  that  connects  with  the  Argentine  railway  system  by 
the  road  on  which  we  came  from  La  Paz  to  Antofagasta, 

but  it  is  longer  and 
higher  and  will  never 
have  much  through 
passenger  traffic. 
The  Chileans  plan 
to  build  several  rail- 
ways south  of  where 
we  are  now,  and 
some  of  these  will 
go  to  the  port  of 
Bahia  Blanca  on  the 
Atlantic.  A  road 
is  planned  from 
Paita,  a  port  of 
Peru,  to  the  navi- 
gable waters  of  the 
Amazon,  and  the 
Oroya  (6-ro'ya)  rail- 
way will  sometime 
be  extended  to  other 
tributaries  of  that  river.  Indeed,  South  America  is  a  con- 
tinent of  the  future,  and  vast  territories  now  practically 
unknown  will  some  day  be  opened  by  railroads. 

During  our  travels  we  have  fine  views  of  Aconcagua, 
the  highest  of  the  Andes.  When  the  sky  is  clear  it  can 
be  seen  from  Valparaiso,  rising  in  a  cone  high  above 
its  sister  mountain  and  dwarfing  all  the  peaks  near  it 
except  Mount  Tupungato  (too-poon-ga't5),  which  is  over 
four  miles  in  height.  Aconcagua  is  more  than  twenty- 
three  thousand  feet  high.     It  is  the  highest  point  on  the 


The  condor  has  a  wing-spread  of  nine  feet 
and  soars  easily  above  the  highest  peaks 
of  the  Andes.    Like  the  vulture,  it  lives 
largely  on  carrion. 


SANTIAGO,  THE  CAPITAL  OF   CHILE  159 

South  American  continent  and  is  almost  three  thousand 
feet  higher  than  Mount  McKinley,  the  highest  point  in 
North  America.  Aconcagua  is  one  of  the  mountain  sights 
of  the  world.  As  we  look  at  its  snowy  top  we  long  to 
climb  it,  but  if  we  should  make  the  attempt  we  would 
probably  meet  with  snowstorms  and  be  frozen  by  the 
intense  cold  on  the  peak.  There  are  cliffs  near  the  summit, 
and  at  the  top  is  a  square  plateau  of  ice  about  two  hun- 
dred feet  wide.  Standing  there,  we  might  see  great  masses 
of  fleecy  clouds  far  below  us,  with  the  mountains  stretching 
away  to  the  east  and  the  south.  On  one  side  would  be 
the  pampas  of  Argentina,  and  on  the  other,  over  the  rich  cen- 
tral valley  of  Chile,  ninety  miles  away,  would  be  the  shining, 
silvery  Pacific.  This  climb  can  be  made  only  in  summer, 
and  our  guides  will  not  allow  us  to  make  the  attempt. 
We  must  be  satisfied  with  the  magnificent  views  we  had 
as  we  rode  through  the  pass.  So  we  remount  our  mules 
and  slowly  go  back  down  the  hills  to  the  railroad.  Here 
we  take  the  train  for  Los  Andes,  where  we  change  cars  to 
the  line  which  brings  us  at  last  to  Santiago,  the  Chilean 
capital. 


XX.     SANTIAGO,   THE   CAPITAL   OF   CHILE 

SANTIAGO,  the  capital  of  Chile,  is  alniost  as  large  as 
our  national  capital  and  like  it  in  many  ways.  Wash- 
ington is  six  hours  distant  from  our  chief  seaport.  New 
York.  Santiago  is  about  six  hours  by  rail  from  Valpa- 
raiso, the  chief  seaport  of  Chile.  Washington  lies  in  a 
basin  only  a  little  above  sea  level  on  the  bank  of  the 
Potomac.  Santiago  is  at  an  elevation  of  two  thousand 
feet  in  the  central  valley  of  Chile.     It  is  cut  in  two  by 


i6o 


SANTIAGO,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  CHILE  i6i 

the  river  Mapocho  (ma-po'cho) ,  and  the  basin  in  which 
it  is  built  is  walled  by  the  snowy  Andes  and  by  low 
mountains  which  rise  one  above  another  from  grassy  plains. 

We  have  our  Capitol  Hill,  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet 
above  the  Potomac.  Santiago  has  its  Santa  Lucia 
(loo-se'a),  a  mass  of  volcanic  rocks  more  than  twice  as 
high.  Rising  precipitously  from  a  base  of  six  acres  in  the 
midst  of  the  city,  Santa  Lucia  is  perhaps  the  most  picturesque 
park  of  the  world.  It  is  composed  of  rocks  piled  together 
in  curious  shapes.  There  is  earth  mixed  with  the  rocks 
so  that  trees  grow  among  them.  Flowers  and  vines  have 
been  planted,  and  the  sides  of  the  hill  are  covered  with 
EngUsh  ivy.  From  its  base  to  its  summit  tall  eucalyptus 
trees  rise  out  of  the  crevices  of  the  rocks.  It  has  wonderful 
ferns,  dark  caves,  and  beautiful  grottoes  in  which  are 
waterfalls,  making  altogether  what  might  be  called  a  hang- 
ing garden  above  the  city,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Andes. 

There  are  winding  driveways  and  footpaths  which  go 
round  and  round  the  hill  to  the  summit  where  the  band 
plays  and  where  they  have  moving-picture  shows  under 
the  sky.  We  walk  up  one  of  the  paths  to  take  a  look  over 
Santiago.  It  is  early  morning  and  the  sun  is  just  rising  in 
the  great  blue  dome  of  the  heavens.  It  has  caught  the 
ragged,  rocky  peaks  of  the  Andes  at  the  back  of  the  cit3\ 
and  the  snows  upon  them  look  like  frosted  silver  incrusted 
with  diamonds.  The  foothills  in  the  shadow  seem  to  be 
of  blue  velvet,  and  away  off  in  the  distance  are  the  plains 
with  their  rich  growth  of  green. 

Our  eyes  now  drop  to  the  city  below  us.  Red-tiled  roofs 
extend  far  away  on  all  sides.  Each  roof  surrounds  a  patio 
in  which  is  a  garden  with  shrubs  and  trees.  The  scene  is 
not  unlike  that  we  saw  from  the  top  of  our  hotel  in  Lima. 
The  houses  are  built  in  the  same  style.     They  are  close  to 


1 62  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  street  and  consist  of  rooms  built  around  open  court- 
yards. Some  of  them  are  of  vast  size  although  few  are  of 
more  than  two  stories. 

See  that  wide  avenue  which  cuts  the  city  almost  in 
halves !  That  is  the  Alameda,  the  chief  street  of  this 
South  American  capital.  It  is  more  than  twice  as  wide  as 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  Washington,  and  four  miles  in 
length.  There  are  rows  of  poplars,  oaks,  elms,  and  acacias 
running  through  it  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  stone 
aqueducts  in  which  mountain  water  is  flowing.  A  stream 
of  traffic  is  moving  back  and  forth  on  both  sides  of  the 
avenue.  We  can  see  automobiles  and  motor-trucks  winding 
their  way  in  and  out  among  the  ox  wagons  and  carriages. 

Taking  our  field  glasses,  we  pick  out  the  statues  of  many 
Chilean  heroes  under  the  trees,  and  see  the  stone  seats 
upon  which  men  and  women  are  sitting  enjoying  the  air. 
Boys  on  bicycles  are  riding  along  the  paths  in  the  center 
of  the  street,  and  at  every  few  hundred  feet  there  are  two 
or  three  cows  with  their  calves  beside  them.  Each  of  the 
calves  wears  a  muzzle.  The  cows  are  tended  by  women, 
who  sell  the  milk  warm  from  the  cow.  They  are  hobbled 
by  ropes  about  their  hind  legs. 

But  let  us  go  down  from  the  hill  and  take  a  street-car 
ride  through  the  city.  The  seats  on  the  roof  are  the  best 
for  sight-seeing,  so  we  climb  up,  give  our  fare  to  the  woman 
conductor,  and  are  soon  rolling  along,  as  high  as  the  tops 
of  the  one-story  houses,  through  the  suburbs  and  poorer 
parts  of  the  town.  A  little  later  we  are  passing  through 
the  best  business  section.  How  fine  the  stores  are !  They 
are  equal  to  those  of  our  cities  at  home.  The  show  windows 
have  all  kinds  of  beautiful  goods.  There  are  several  great 
arcades  roofed  with  glass,  which  have  been  cut  through  the 
business  blocks  from  one  side  to  the  other. 


SANTIAGO,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  CHILE 


163 


We  go  by  the  Palacio  dc  la  Moneda.  It  is  a  great  build- 
ing, containing  the  offices  of  the  president  and  those  of 
some  of  his  cabinet  ministers.  At  the  door  are  soldiers 
with  drawn  swords 
in  their  hands. 
Later  on  the  presi- 
dent of  Chile  comes 
forth  with  the  mili- 
tary guard  of  two 
hundred  cavalry 
which  accompanies 
his  carriage  on  all 
state  occasions. 
The  Chileans  are 
fond  of  pomp  and 
display.  We  meet 
policemen  with 
swords  at  their  sides 
on  every  street 
corner,  and  we  shall 
see  soldiers  drilling 
in  every  city  and 
town.  Chile  is  a 
republic  with  a  gov- 
ernment not  unhke 
ours.  It  has  a  presi- 
dent and  congress 
and  a  system  of  courts.  In  that  building  over  there  con- 
gress is  meeting.  The  men  going  in  are  senators  and  dep- 
uties who  make  the  laws  just  as  we  do  in  our  congress  at 
home. 

At  the  post-office  department  we  learn  that  millions  of 
letters  and  newspapers  go  through  the  mails  every  year 


In   Santiago  arcades  roofed  with  glass 
run  through  the  blocks  and  furnish  space 
for  shops  and  shelter  for  shoppers. 


1 64  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  that  telegraph  Unes  cover  the  republic.  The  prices 
for  telegrams  are  lower  than  ours.  There  are  wireless 
towers  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  long-distance 
telephones  over  which  one  can  talk  from  Santiago  to  all 
the  chief  cities.  Many  of  the  towns  have  electric  street 
cars,  and  nearly  every  one  is  lighted  by  electricity.  Later 
on  we  visit  the  museum,  the  national  picture  gallery,  and 
the  pubHc  library,  which  has  more  than  one  half  million 
volumes.  We  go  to  the  colleges  and  spend  some  time  in 
the  pubKc  schools.  The  schools  are  much  hke  ours,  save 
that  the  girls  and  the  boys  are  kept  in  different  buildings 
and  the  children  of  the  lower  grades  study  out  loud.  Chile 
has  a  good  public  school  system.  There  are  schools  in 
every  city  and  village,  although  only  one  out  of  every  five 
children  attends  school.  Santiago  has  two  large  univer- 
sities, and  there  are  also  schools  of  mines,  of  engineering, 
of  agriculture,  and  for  the  army  and  navy. 

The  Chileans  are  so  strong,  progressive,  and  inteUigent 
that  they  have  been  called  the  Yankees  of  South  America. 
This  is  largely  because  they  have  a  temperate  climate 
like  ours.  Although  their  language  is  Spanish,  many  of 
the  people  speak  also  French  and  English,  and  some  have 
been  educated  in  Europe.  In  all  the  cities  there  are  daily 
newspapers.  We  meet  newsboys  on  almost  every  street 
corner,  and  find  large  bookstores  in  the  business  sections. 

During  our  stay  at  the  capital  we  are  inxdted  to  visit 
the  homes  of  some  well-to-do  Chileans.  We  are  surprised 
at  the  size  of  their  houses.  They  are  of  only  one  or  two 
stories,  but  many  have  forty  or  more  large  rooms  which 
are  furnished  as  expensively  as  the  palaces  of  our  mil- 
Uonaires.  They  have  fine  paintings  and  statues,  and  those  in 
the  suburbs  have  large  gardens  about  them,  in  which  are 
lemon  and  orange  trees  and  all  kinds  of  beautiful  flowers. 


A  VISIT  TO  A   CHILEAN   FARM  165 

But  how  about  the  poor?^  All  the  Chileans  cannot  be 
rich.  No,  indeed.  There  are  poor  people  everywhere. 
We  see  them  driving  carts,  carrying  goods  on  their  backs 
through  the  streets,  and  engaged  in  all  sorts  of  hard  labor. 
We  shall  find  them  living  in  mud  huts  on  the  farms,  and 
we  remember  how  we  rode  on  the  top  of  the  street  car 
through  sections  of  Santiago  filled  with  low  one-story 
houses  where  whole  families  live  in  one  room.  In  many 
cases  the  poor  people  sleep  on  the  floor,  and  their  food 
costs  but  a  few  cents  a  day.  They  are  of  the  mixed  race 
of  Spaniards  and  Indians.  We  shall  see  much  of  them  in 
our  trips  through  the  country. 

XXI.     A   VISIT   TO   A   CHILEAN   FARM 

WE  are  starting  to-day  from  Santiago  through  the 
central  valley  of  Chile,  which  hes  between  the  main 
range  of  the  Andes  and  the  low  mountains  which  border 
the  coast.  It  is  over  a  hundred  miles  wide  in  places  and 
as  long  as  from  New  York  to  Pittsburgh.  This  valley  is 
rich,  for  it  is  covered  with  earth  washings  from  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  soil  is  several  hundred  feet  deep.  It  is 
divided  into  large  estates  upon  which  all  the  fruits  and 
grains  of  the  temperate  zone  are  grown,  and  where  sheep, 
cattle,  and  horses  are  grazed  in  great  droves.  The  cliicf 
crops  are  wheat,  barley,  and  oats.  There  are  great  or- 
chards and  vineyards,  and  almost  one  half  billion  pounds 
of  grapes  are  gathered  in  a  single  year.  The  valley  is 
like  the  central  valley  of  California  in  position,  cHmate, 
and  products.  Chile  is  one  of  the  chief  wheat  countries 
of  South  America.  It  ranks  next  to  Argentina,  and 
millions  of  bushels  are  exported  every  year. 


A  VISIT  TO  A  CHILEAN   FARM  167 

There  are  few  countries  where  farms  are  so  large  or 
their  owners  so  rich  as  in  Chile.  More  than  half  the 
people  are  engaged  in  farming,  but  the  land  is  owned  by 
a  very  few  families.  We  meet  men  who  each  have  thou- 
sands of  acres,  and  the  wealthier  farmers  hve  like  lords 
upon  their  estates  or  haciendas  (a-syen'das).  Agriculture 
is  profitable  in  Chile.  The  country  annually  produces 
millions  of  bushels  of  wheat  and  barley,  milHons  of  gallons 
of  wine,  and  the  best  horses  and  sheep  on  the  west  coast 
of  South  America. 

Most  of  the  farms  are  in  this  great  central  valley.  They 
are  irrigated  by  the  streams  from  the  mountains,  and  often 
are  cultivated  Hke  gardens.  The  fields  are  divided  by 
canals  bordered  with  poplars,  eucalyptus,  or  other  tall 
trees.  Some  of  the  estates  have  stone  walls  about  them, 
and  others  have  fences  of  wire  or  boards.  We  look  in 
vain  for  barns,  haystacks,  and  farmhouses  hke  ours.  The 
only  buildings  are  the  vast  one-story  homes  of  the  owners 
and  the  mud  huts  of  the  workmen.  Huge  carts  drawn  by 
oxen  with  yokes  tied  to  their  horns  are  used  for  farm 
wagons,  and  the  plows  are  dragged  through  the  furrows 
by  the  same  clumsy  beasts.  The  more  enterprising 
Chileans,  however,  have  been  lately  introducing  modern 
machinery,  and  some  of  the  rich  farmers  have  tractors, 
plows,  threshers,  and  reapers  made  in  our  country.  Some 
have  their  own  electric  power  plants,  operated  by  the 
streams  which  flow  through  their  farms. 

We  visit  one  of  the  farms  and  are  entertained  by  the 
owner.  Our  host  is  a  rich  haciendado  who  lives  in  San- 
tiago, and  comes  here  only  in  summer,  but  nevertheless 
has  an  enormous  establishment.  His  house  has  several 
acres  of  rooms,  all  on  the  ground  floor.  The  residence 
is  composed  of  one-story  buildings  with  red  tiled  roofs. 


io8 


A  VISIT  TO  A   CHILKAN    F'ARM  i 6q 

mud  walls,  and  brick  floors,  surrounding  green  courts  and 
gardens.  Groves  of  trees,  some  of  which  are  one  hundred 
feet  high,  shade  the  houses. 

There  are  many  other  guests  at  the  time  of  our  visit, 
among  them  about  thirty  children.  Nevertheless,  when 
we  go  out  to  ride  there  are  horses  for  all.  The  smallest 
children  are  tied  to  the  saddles  to  keep  them  from  falling, 
for  the  children  learn  to  ride  when  quite  young.  Every 
child  of  this  farmer  has  his  own  pony,  and  we  see  boys  and 
girls  between  the  ages  of  four  and  fourteen  galloping  over 
the  fields  holding  their  seats  like  men  and  women. 

The  farm  is  so  large  we  might  ride  all  day  through  the 
fields  and  not  visit  it  all.  The  chief  roads  are  hned  with 
Lombardy  poplars. 

We  are  delighted  with  the  horses.  Their  gait  is  so  easy 
that  we  can  remain  in  our  saddles  for  hours  without  tiring. 
They  are  directed  by  pressing  the  reins  against  the  neck, 
and  not  by  pulling  at  the  bit  as  we  do.  The  reins  are 
usually  left  loose,  and  as  a  result  the  horses  are  seldom 
hard  in  the  mouth.  Later  on  we  look  at  stock.  There 
are  great  herds  of  fine  cattle  and  flocks  of  fat  sheep.  The 
crops  are  growing  luxuriantly,  and  the  vineyards  and 
orchards  are  loaded  with  fruit. 

We  ask  how  such  a  place  is  managed.  It  has  a  major- 
domo,  or  chief,  who  organizes  his  laborers  much  like  an 
army.  Each  overseer  has  so  many  men,  and  he  tells  each 
man  what  to  do  every  day.  Books  are  kept  to  show  just 
what  money  is  paid  out  and  what  for,  so  that  the  owner 
knows  how  well  each  field  is  paying. 

Indeed,  the  only  poor  things  on  the  farm  are  the  incjuilinos 
(en-ke-le'nos) ,  or  farm  hands.  They  are  the  laboring  class 
of  the  country,  somewhat  like  the  Indians  we  saw  in  Peru 
and  Bolivia.     They  come  of  the  mixed  race  of  Spaniards 


lyo 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


and  Indians,  inheriting  the  bravery  of  both.  The  Peruvian 
and  Bohvian  Indians  are  afraid  of  their  masters ;  the 
inquihnos  are  not.  They  carry  knives,  and  the  employer 
who  would  strike  one  of  his  laborers  would  probably  be 
stabbed  in  return.  Nevertheless,  it  is  said  that  the  in- 
quilinos  love  their  masters,  and  they  seldom  leave  the 
estates  upon  which  they  were  born. 

Let  us  enter  one  of  their  huts.  What  a  contrast  to  the 
luxurious  city  home  of  the  owner !  The  walls  are  of  mud 
and  the  roof  is  of  thatch.  The  ground  forms  the  floor  and, 
in  this  case,  the  bed  of  the  family.  Two  boxes  and  a  table 
are  the  only  furniture.  The  hut  has  but  one  room  about 
fifteen  feet  square,  and  we  are  told  that  eight  persons  Hve 
in  it.  It  seems  impossible  that  they  can  exist  in  such 
close  quarters,  and  when  we  learn  what  they  eat  we  wonder 
the  more.  Their  breakfast  usually  consists  of  a  double 
handful  of  toasted  wheat  flour  mixed  with  water  into  a 
mush  or  baked  as  a  cake.  At  noo^  they  have  a  bowl  of  hot 
beans,  and  for  supper,  or  dinner,  as  they  call  it,  a  second 
bowl  of  beans,  to  which  is  added  some  toasted  meal.  The 
inquihnos  seldom  eat  meat,  preferring  to  spend  their  money 
for  drink. 

As  a  result  of  this  mode  of  hving  many  of  the  children 
die,  but  those  who  survive  are  able  to  withstand  almost 
any  hardship.  The  men  are  so  strong  that  four  of  them 
can  easily  Uft  a  piano  on  their  heads  and  trot  away 
with  it.  I  have  seen  them  carrying  nitrate  bags  weighing 
three  hundred  pounds  each  and  tossing  them  about  as 
though  they  were  feathers. 

The  inquihnos  are  pohte.  They  are  kind  to  their 
famiUes,  and  are  always  ready  to  help  one  another  in 
trouble.  It  is  difficult  to  teach  them  habits  of  thrift ;  but 
common  schools  have  now  been  established  almost  every- 


A   VISIT  TO  A   CHILEAN   FARM  171 

where,  and  it  is  believed  that  they  will  in  time  reach  a  higher 
state  of  civilization. 

1.  Mention  two  important  metals  we  get  from  Chile.  Locate 
Coquimbo.  Why  is  it  important  to  us?  What  two  South  American 
countries  produce  the  most  copper?  Compare  their  product  with 
that  of  the  United  States.  From  what  other  countries  do  large 
supplies  of  this  metal  come?     (See  Table  XI.) 

2.  Give  an  airplane  view  of  ChUe.  Describe  the  three  different 
sections  as  to  climate  and  products.  Why  is  northern  Chile  so  dry 
and  southern  Chile  so  wet  ? 

3.  Describe  the  port  of  Valparaiso.  How  far  is  it  from  New 
York?  From  San  Francisco?  Mention  some  of  the  goods  awaiting 
shipment  to  the  United  States.  What  do  we  sell  to  the  Chileans? 
Trace  the  route  of  a  shipload  of  our  cotton  from  New  Orleans  to 
Valparaiso,  via  the  Panama  Canal.  Trace  a  cargo  of  iron  ore  from 
Coquimbo  to  Bethlehem,  Pa.  A  cargo  of  copper  from  Antofagasta 
to  New  York  via  Panama  ;  via  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 

4.  What  great  American  port  was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake? 
Compare  it  with  Valparaiso. 

5.  Why  do  the  cities  of  Chile  have  women  street-car  conductors? 

6.  Compare  your  trip  across  South  America  by  rail  with  one  from 
San  Francisco  to  New  York  ;  from  New  York  to  Chicago.  How 
far  is  it  from  Buenos  Aires  to  \'alparaiso?  How  long  does  the 
journey  take?  Mention  other  possible  routes  from  ocean  to  ocean. 
Why  are  some  of  the  railways  of  Chile  operated  by  electricity? 

7.  What  is  the  highest  mountain  of  the  Andes?  Compare  it  with 
Mount  McKinley,  Mount  Elbruz,  Mount  Everest.  Describe  the 
"Christ  of  the  Andes." 

8.  In  what  ways  is  the  capital  of  Chile  like  the  capital  of  the 
United  States?  How  does  the  government  resemble  ours?  What 
is  the  chief  religion  of  Chile?  E.xplain  why  the  Chileans  have  been 
called  the  Yankees  of  South  America. 

9.  Why  is  the  central  valley  of  Chile  like  California?  Compare 
it  with  southern  Chile.  Compare  one  of  the  farms  with  a  farm 
near  your  home.  What  do  they  grow  on  these  farms?  What  arc  the 
principal  wheat  countries  of  South  America?     (See  Table  X.) 

10.  Who  are  the  inquilinos?     How  do  they  live? 


172  SOUTH  AMERICA 

XXII.     SOUTHERN   CHILE   AND   THE 
ARAUCANIANS 

WE  have  left  our  friends  in  the  country  and  are  again 
on  the  train.  We  travel  several  hundred  miles 
southward  through  the  great  central  valley.  On  our  left 
are  the  snowy  Andes  with  steam  rising  here  and  there  from 
a  volcanic  peak.  We  cross  little  rivers  and  go  through  vast 
wheat  fields  cut  up  by  ditches  in  which  clear  water  flows. 

How  many  vineyards  there  are !  The  hills  are  covered 
with  low  grapevines  now  brown  and  leafless,  for  it  is  winter. 
See  that  drove  of  cattle  at  the  side  of  the  road,  with  the 
men  on  horseback  driving  the  animals  this  way  and  that. 
They  are  rounding  up  the  young  and  branding  them  with 
hot  irons.  In  the  next  field  are  more  than  a  thousand 
horses,  and  we  shall  pass  many  cattle  on  our  way  farther 
south. 

See  the  trees  which  border  the  fields !  The  irrigating 
ditches  are  lined  with  lofty  poplars  all  leaning  north,  blown 
so  by  the  winds,  which  usually  come  from  the  south.  They 
look  like  hedges  a  hundred  feet  high  running  between  the 
green  fields. 

What  is  this  broad  stream  we  are  crossing?  It  is  the 
Biobio  (be-o-be'o),  the  largest  river  of  Chile.  It  rises  in 
the  Andes  not  far  from  the  Argentine  boundary  and  flows 
across  the  country,  emptying  into  the  Bay  of  Concepcion. 
How  wide  it  is !  The  steel  bridge  which  we  cross  is  one  of 
the  finest  in  South  America ;  it  seems  more  than  a  mile 
long. 

There  are  woods  on  the  banks  of  the  Biobio,  and  from 
now  on  we  shall  frequently  be  in  the  forests.  There  are 
no  more  irrigating  ditches,  for  the  rains  furnish  plenty  of 
water  for  the  woods  and  the  crops.     We  have  at  last  come 


SOUTHERN   CHILE   AND   THE  ARAUCANIANS 


173 


into  the  forest  region  of  Chile.  It  extends  from  hero  to 
the  Strait  of  Magellan,  and  we  see  cypress,  oak,  beech,  and 
other  hardwood 
trees  of  the  temper- 
ate zone.  The  bark 
of  many  of  the  trees 
is  good  for  tanning, 
and  we  shall  find 
large  tanneries  and 
other  leather- 
making  industries 
here  and  farther 
south. 

The  wheat  fields 
we  are  now  passing 
have  been  cut  out 
of  the  woods.  They 
look  like  our  fields 
in  the  new  lands  of 
the  Northwest. 
There  are  stumps  in 
them.  The  houses 
of  the  poor  are  made 
of  logs.  We  see 
men  at  work  felling 
the  trees.  Those 
long  teams  of  oxen 
are  dragging  out 
lumber,  their  big, 
soft  eyes  looking 
sadly  at  us  as  they  painfully  pull  the  heavy  loads  by  their 
heads. 

Notice  the  people  at  the  station.     How  different  from 


Araucanian   Indian  —  bronze   slaiuc   in 
Santiago.     The  Araucanians  of  Chile  were 
much   better   fighters   than   the   Incas   of 
Peru  or  the  Aymaras  of  Bolivia. 


174 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


the  laborers  we  saw  in  the  north !  They  are  dark  faced 
and  fierce  looking.  They  are  more  warmly  clad.  The 
men  wear  ponchos ;  and  many  of  them  have  on  high  boots 
covered  with  mud. 

Listen  to  that  group  at  the  corner.     They  are  talking  in 
German  and  they  do  not  look  like  Chileans.     They  are 


Araucanian  Indians  weaving  ponchos. 


German  settlers  who  have  come  from  Europe  to  farm  the 
land,  which  the  Chilean  government  sells  to  immigrants 
at  a  low  price.  We  shall  see  many  Germans  in  this  part 
of  Chile.  They  have  taken  up  farms  and  often  own 
stores  and  factories.  The  city  of  Valdivia  (val-de'vya)  has 
large  tanneries  in  which  German  workmen  make  fine  leather 
for  shipment  to  Europe.  The  trees  have  good  bark  for 
tanning,  and  the  many  cattle  make  the  hides  cheap. 


IN  THE  COAL  MINES  OF   CHILE  175 

But  who  are  the  copper-colored  people  we  meet  every- 
where? They  wear  gorgeous  ponchos  woven  in  stripes  of 
bright  colors.  The  women  have  bare  arms.  They  wear  long, 
blankctlike  dresses  wrapped  tightly  over  their  chests  and 
falling  to  the  feet.  Some  have  square  silver  earrings  half 
as  big  as  a  schoolbook  and  as  thick  as  its  cover.  Others 
have  silver  plates  on  their  bosoms  and  bands  of  silver 
beads  about  their  ankles  and  necks. 

They  are  Indians,  the  descendants  of  the  famed  Arau- 
canians  who  inhabited  Chile  when  the  Spaniards  first  came. 
They  were  noted  for  their  bravery,  and  were  quite  as  brave 
as  our  Indians.  It  is  said  that  more  Spanish  lives  were 
lost  in  attempts  to  conquer  these  Indians  than  in  all  the 
Indian  wars  in  Mexico  and  Peru.  The  struggle  lasted 
more  than  a  century  and  ended  by  leaving  to  the  Arau- 
canians  a  great  part  of  southern  Chile.  Since  then  most 
of  this  has  been  taken  away  and  they  live  on  reservations 
or  have  farms  of  their  own.  Alcohol  has  made  the  Arau- 
canians  a  nation  of  drunkards,  and  their  bad  habits  are 
fast  killing  them  off.  They  are  now  less  in  number  than 
when  they  first  fought  the  Spaniards,  and  they  grow  fewer 
each  year. 

XXIII.     IN  THE   COAL   MINES   OF   CHILE 

WE  have  left  the  land  of  the  Araucanians  and  are  now 
in  the  city  of  Concepcion  (kon-sep-syon'),  two  hun- 
dred miles  south  of  Valparaiso.  It  is  the  chief  port  south 
of  Valparaiso,  and  its  people  say  it  will  soon  be  the  chief 
seaport  of  the  southern  Pacific  coast.  It  has  two  excellent 
harbors  near  by,  Arauco  (a-rou'ko)  Bay  and  Talcahuano 
(tal-ka-wah'no),  and  is  so  connected  by  railroads  with  all 


176 


IN  THE  COAL  MINES  OF  CHILE  177 

parts  of  the  country  that  it  has  a  great  trade.  Valdivia 
and  Puerto  Montt  (pwar'to  mont) ,  two  other  ports  farther 
south,  are  rapidly  growing. 

Concepcion  is  the  largest  city  of  southern  Chile.  It  is 
a  fiat  Spanish  town  with  a  plaza  in  the  center,  and  streets 
which  cross  one  another  at  right  angles. 

This  part  of  Chile  contains  some  of  the  chief  coal  fields 
of  western  South  America.  There  is  but  little  coal  to  the 
north  of  them,  and  coal  is  brought  in  by  the  shipload 
from  Australia  and  England.  The  coal  of  Chile  is  not  so 
good  as  that  which  is  imported,  and  it  must  be  sold  at 
a  lower  price.  The  coal  fields  lie  along  the  ocean  for  a 
distance  of  almost  one  hundred  miles,  and  are  so  close  to 
the  sea  that  they  can  be  worked  at  a  profit. 

The  steamer  in  which  we  are  to  take  passage  for  the 
Strait  of  Magellan  has  stopped  in  Arauco  Bay  to  take  on 
coal.  She  now  lies  at  anchor  near  Lota,  with  great  barges 
of  coal  at  her  side.  We  see  sooty-faced  men  standing  on 
the  coal  and  shoveHng  it  on  board.  The  ship  is  bound  for 
Hamburg,  via  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  She  must  steam 
about  five  thousand  miles  before  she  can  get  fuel  again. 
It  takes  a  vast  deal  of  coal  to  make  steam  for  such  a  big 
ship.  It  uses  more  in  one  day  than  many  families  can 
consume  in  a  year,  and  it  will  keep  the  men  shovehng 
until  night  to  load  up. 

I  We  are  told  that  we  shall  have  time  to  \dsit  one  of  the 
mines  before  the  ship  sails.  We  are  tired,  and  at  first  tliink 
it  hardly  worth  while,  until  the  captain  says  that  some  of 
the  coal  beds  slope  from  the  land  down  under  the  ocean, 
and  that  the  coal  they  are  now  shoveling  on  board  comes 
from  under  the  sea. 

We  want  to  see  a  mine,  and  call  a  small  boat  which  is 
near  the  ship  waiting  for  passengers  to  take  us  on  shore. 


178  SOUTH  AMERICA 

We  are  landed  at  the  entrance  to  one  of  the  greatest  coal 
mines.  The  works  above  ground  are  large  buildings  situ- 
ated upon  little  islands  connected  with  the  coast  by  a 
railroad  built  upon  piles.  We  ask  the  manager  if  we  may 
visit  the  mines,  and  he  kindly  sends  a  guide  with  us. 

We  are  taken  to  a  great  shaft  or  well  in  which,  by  a 
steam  engine  and  pulleys,  two  elevators  are  raising  cars 
filled  with  coal  and  lowering  empty  cars  to  the  bottom. 
We  step  upon  the  elevator  that  is  going  down,  and  drop 
into  darkness.  Down,  down,  down  we  go,  until  at  last 
rays  of  light  shoot  up  from  below.  Our  speed  grows 
slower,  and  we  stop  at  a  long  tunnel  with  a  Kne  of  electric 
Hghts  extending  on  and  on  in  front  of  us,  growing  less  and 
less  in  size  until  they  fade  into  stars  in  the  distance. 

As  we  step  out  of  the  shaft  a  train  of  loaded  cars  comes 
thundering  toward  us.  We  see  that  it  is  moved  by  an  over- 
head trolley  like  the  electric  street  cars  of  some  of  our  cities. 

But  there  is  another  train  going  back  into  the  mine. 
Can  we  get  on?  Yes;  a  special  car  with  seats  upon  it 
has  been  attached  to  the  train  for  us.  We  climb  upon  the 
platform  and  speed  away  over  the  track  at  the  rate  of  twenty 
miles  an  hour.  Within  a  few  moments  we  leave  the  shore 
and  are  soon  far  out  under  the  bed  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

We  are  moving  through  a  tunnel  which  has  been  cut  out 
of  the  great  blanket  of  coal  which  Hes  between  the  layers 
of  rock.  As  we  go  on  we  pass  openings  to  the  right  and  the 
left.  They  are  the  entrances  to  tunnels,  made  to  get  out 
the  coal. 

Think  where  we  are !  We  are  hundreds  of  feet  under 
the  ocean,  and  big  steamers  are  floating  above  us.  And 
still  it  is  dry.  Not  a  drop  falls  on  our  clothes  or  hats,  for 
the  great  beds  of  stone  overhead  are  such  that  the  water 
cannot  get  through. 


IN  THE  COAL  MINES  OF  CHILE  179 

As  we  ride  on,  a  train  passes  now  and  then.  In  the 
tunnels  at  the  sides  we  see  half-naked  miners  covered  with 
dirt,  digging  the  coal  and  loading  it  upon  cars. 

What  is  that  boom,  boom,  boom  which  sounds  as  though 
the  sea  were  breaking  through  the  rocks  away  at  the  right  ? 
That  is  the  blasting.  There  is  no  danger  where  we  are 
now,  but  we  must  beware,  for  if  such  an  explosion  should 
occur  near  us  it  might  blow  us  to  pieces. 

What  a  great  mine  this  is !  There  are  hundreds  of  men 
at  work  in  it,  and  vast  quantities  of  coal  are  taken  out 
every  day. 

We  ride  back  to  the  shaft  on  a  train  of  twenty-seven 
loaded  coal  cars,  and  another  train  arrives  while  we  are 
waiting  to  ride  to  the  top. 

Now  we  are  back  at  the  steamer  again.  It  is  almost 
ready  to  sail.  It  has  loaded  a  thousand  tons  of  coal  in 
the  last  twenty-four  hours,  and  in  a  few  minutes  will  start 
on  its  long  voyage  to  Europe  around  the  southern  end  of 
the  continent. 

The  vessel  carries  a  vast  deal  of  freight.  Below  deck 
are  three  thousand  tons  of  nitrate  of  soda,  two  thousand 
barrels  of  liquid  honey,  and  great  rolls  of  sole  leather,  all 
going  to  Europe  via  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  We  have 
wheat,  wine,  and  flour  for  Punta  Arenas  (poon'ta  a-ra'nas), 
situated  on  the  strait,  and  similar  freight  for  Buenos 
Aires  and  Montevideo  (mon-ta-ve-da'o). 

Everything  is  carefully  packed,  for  we  are  about  to  enter 
some  of  the  stormiest  seas  of  the  world,  and  what  might 
be  called  the  very  home  of  the  winds.  About  Cape  Horn 
fierce  winds  blow  all  the  year.  There  are  many  stomis 
farther  north,  and  seamen  are  glad  when  they  reach  the 
strait,  where  the  waters  are  usually  quiet.  Moreover,  we 
shall  avoid  some  of  the  storms  by  traveUng  through  the 


i8o  SOUTH  AMERICA 

narrow  channels,  which  run  in  and  out  among  the  moun- 
tainous islands  along  the  west  coast.  This  is  the  Smyth 
Channel  route,  the  scenery  of  which  is  wonderfully  grand. 

We  are  anxious  to  be  off  and  are  glad  when,  as  evening 
falls,  there  is  a  rattling  of  chains  and  the  anchor  is  raised. 
We  hear  the  thump,  thump,  thump  of  the  engines,  and  as 
we  go  to  bed  we  are  moving  out  of  the  smooth  waters  of 
Arauco  Bay  into  the  ocean. 

We  awake  to  find  the  ship  rolling.  We  have  to  hold  to 
our  berths  while  we  dress,  and  a  lurch  of  the  vessel  often 
sends  us  against  the  walls  of  our  rooms.  We  climb  up- 
stairs to  the  deck,  brace  ourselves  against  the  rail,  and  look 
out  over  the  sea.  There  are  whitecaps  everywhere.  The 
waves  rise  and  fall  in  huge  masses.  They  whip  the  ship, 
striking  its  sides  with  a  noise  Hke  a  cannon.  Now  a  great 
billow  dashes  against  the  ship,  and  now  a  still  bigger  one 
splashes  over  the  top  deck,  flooding  everything  and  making 
us  run  to  our  cabins. 

When  we  sit  down  at  dinner  we  find  the  "fiddles'^ 
placed  on  the  tables.  These  are  networks  of  slats  which 
hold  the  plates,  cups,  and  other  dishes  so  that  a  lurch  of 
the  ship  will  not  send  them  into  our  laps.  We  lift  our  soup 
plates  halfway  to  our  mouths  and  balance  them  with  the 
roll  of  the  vessel,  trying  at  the  same  time  to  get  our  spoons 
between  our  Hps  without  spilling  the  soup.  How  few  of 
our  party  have  come  out  to  dinner !  Many  of  us  are 
seasick  and  prefer  to  stay  in  bed  in  our  cabins.  Even 
the  bravest  of  us  does  not  care  quite  so  much  for  his  food 
as  he  did  upon  land. 

A  day  or  so  later  we  have  grown  used  to  the  motion  and 
are  all  upon  deck.  We  enjoy  the  changes  which  the  rough 
sea  and  the  storms  bring  every  hour.  Now  we  are  shrouded 
in  mist,  and  every  few  minutes  the  fog  horn  blows  to  warn 


IN  AND   ABOUT  THE  STRAIT  OF  MAGELLAN    i8i 

other  ships  to  keep  out  of  our  way.  Now  the  fog  Hfts,  and 
we  see  high  waves  rolHng  about  on  all  sifles.  There  is  a 
break  in  the  clouds,  and  away  ofT  to  the  east  is  a  faint  line 
of  blue.  That  is  the  long,  narrow  island  of  Chiloe  (che- 
lo-a') ;  the  mainland  is  much  farther  off.  We  are  fortunate 
in  securing  a  view,  for  in  Chiloe  the  natives  say  it  rains 
six  days  every  week  in  winter  and  on  the  seventh  the  sky' 
is  much  overcast.  It  is  better  in  the  summer,  but  everu 
then  the  island  is  half  shrouded  in  mist.  As  we  sail  on 
southward,  there  is  more  fog  and  snow.  The  sea  is  still 
rough,  and  we  cannot  safely  walk  about  the  deck  until 
we  enter  the  Gulf  of  Penas  (pa'nyas),  from  which  we  go  on 
into  Smyth  Channel. 

It  is  only  four  o'clock  when  we  enter  the  gulf,  but  it  is 
already  quite  dark.  We  are  now  so  far  south  that  the 
winter  nights  begin  early,  and  the  electric  lights  are  already 
turned  on.  The  ship  moves  gently,  and  when  we  go  to  sleep 
there  is  no  more  motion  than  when  in  our  own  beds  at 
home. 


XXIV.     IN  AND   ABOUT  THE   STRAIT  OF 
MAGELLAN 

WE  have  been  moving  slowly  all  night  and  awake  to 
find  the  waves  gone.  We  have  left  the  open  Pacific 
and  are  passing  through  the  series  of  channels  about  four 
hundred  miles  long  which  wind  in  and  out  among  the 
islands  of  western  Patagonia  and  will  bring  us  at  last  to 
the  Strait  of  Magellan. 

The  scenes  about  us  are  among  the  grandest  of  the  world. 
We  are  sailing  in  a  land  of  clouds  among  the  peaks  of  the 
half-submerged  mountains   which  form  the  southernmost 


i82  SOUTH  AMERICA 

part  of  the  great  Andean  chain.  The  channel  is  more  like 
a  narrow  river  than  a  branch  of  the  ocean.  It  carries  us 
in  and  out  among  rocky,  grass-clad  islands.  On  our  left, 
ragged  mountains  rise  almost  straight  from  the  water. 
The  shores  are  green  and  matted  with  moss  and  evergreen 
trees.     Higher  up,  the  green  is  dusted  with  snow,  and  at 


Al  ihe  Strait  of  IMagellan.     The  glaciers  extend  down  almost  to 
the  shore.    A  combination  of  sea,   forest,  mountain,  and  glacier 
makes  the  scenery  rival  that  of  Alaska. 

the  top  there  is  ice.  Some  of  the  peaks  are  half  hidden  in 
cloud.  Others  nearer  our  vessel  stand  out  bold  and  clear 
—  great  masses  of  emerald  velvet  under  a  lavender  sky. 

The  scene  changes  as  we  sail  onward.  The  mountains 
assume  curious  shapes,  and  we  imagine  pictures  in  them 
such  as  one  sometimes  sees  in  the  clouds.  There  is  one 
that  looks  hke  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt,  and  here  is 
another  that  has  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Sphinx. 


IN  AND   ABOUT  THE   STRAIT  OF   MAGELLAN     183 

Now  the  hills  in  front  of  us  appear  to  be  climbing  over  one 
another  like  so  many  giants  playing  leapfrog,  and  farther 
on  they  rise  in  cathedrals  and  forts  of  green  a  thousand  feet 
high. 

Now  the  sun  comes  out.  It  has  penetrated  that  deep 
gorge  and  turned  the  black  water  to  silver.  It  catches 
the  snow  which  is  dusted  over  the  hills,  and  they  are 
spangled  with  diamonds.  It  has  touched  the 'ice  of  that 
glacier  and  made  it  an  immense  lump  of  sapphire  in  a 
setting  of  silvery  snow.  Now  the  clouds  are  settling  upon 
the  channel  and  hiding  the  sun.  See,  there  is  a  wall  of 
them  in  front  of  our  vessel.  We  are  sailing  into  a  snow- 
storm. A  half  hour  later  we  shall  move  out  into  the  sun 
again. 

How  the  sky  changes !  Now  it  is  blue  overhead  with 
fleecy  white  clouds  scattered  here  and  there  through  it. 
See  those  masses  of  vapor  nesthng  in  the  velvety  laps  of 
the  hills  and  wrapping  themselves  about  the  snowy  peaks 
as  though  to  warm  them.  Here,  the  clouds  seem  to  rise 
from  the  water,  making  a  wall  across  the  channel  as  high 
as  our  ship.  There,  they  come  down  from  the  top,  and  we 
sail  out  of  the  dry  air  into  a  mist  so  thick  that  we  can 
almost  wash  our  hands  in  it  as  we  go  through. 

Again  we  are  out  of  the  clouds.  The  air  is  clear.  The 
sun  is  bathing  the  hills  with  its  rays.  The  ferns,  moss, 
and  trees  shine  in  their  green  luxuriance,  and  the  many 
cascades,  some  as  big  as  your  wrist  and  others  no  larger 
than  your  finger,  are  threads  and  cords  and  ropes  of  silver. 
These  waterfalls  come  from  the  glaciers  and  snows  on  the 
mountains. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  moss  and  green  trees  can  grow 
amid  such  surroundings  ?  Yes  ;  but  it  is  only  the  highest 
peaks  that  are  all  snow  and  ice.     The  trees  are  evergreens. 


1 84  SOUTH   AMERICA 

so  close  together  that  with  snowshoes  we  might  walk  on 
their  tops.  A  bed  of  moss,  waist  deep,  grows  among  them, 
and  great  ferns,  with  leaves  as  long  as  our  arms,  extend 
out  and  cover  every  bare,  rocky  spot.  The  glaciers  of  the 
higher  mountains  often  extend  down  into  the  forests 
almost  to  the  shore,  and  now  and  then  icebergs  break  off 
and  fill  up  the  channels.  This  route  is  sometimes  impossible 
for  ships,  a;nd  as  it  is,  at  times  we  make  our  way  through 
fields  of  glacial  ice  as  clear  as  crystal,  and  green  rather 
than  white.  There  is  a  little  iceberg  now  in  front  of  our 
ship.  It  is  no  bigger  than  a  city  lot  and  not  as  high  as 
the  deck.  As  the  sun  catches  it,  it  looks  Hke  a  great 
emerald  whose  top  is  frosted  with  silver. 

But  the  machinery  is  stopping.  What  is  the  matter? 
The  captain  tells  us  he  is  going  to  rob  the  berg  of  some  ice 
for  the  ship.  The  sailors  are  already  bending  over  the 
rails.  One  of  them  has  a  long  rope  in  his  hands  with  a 
running  noose  at  its  end.  Now  he  gives  it  a  throw.  The 
coil  flies  out  and  the  noose  catches  on  a  horn  at  one  corner 
of  the  iceberg.  We  have  heard  of  lassoing  cattle  but 
never  before  of  lassoing  an  iceberg.  Yes,  but  it  is  not  such 
a  bad  way  after  all.  The  rope  is  fastened  to  a  wheel  on 
the  deck  moved  by .  the  steam  engine,  and  as  the  wheel 
turns,  the  rope  is  rolled  up  and  the  ship  is  drawn  to  the 
iceberg. 

Now  some  of  the  sailors  have  taken  one  of  the  ship's 
boats  and  landed  upon  the  ice.  They  are  breaking  off  the 
top  with  crowbars  and  wrapping  chains  about  the  blocks 
of  ice,  which  the  engines  of  the  steamer  are  raising  to  the 
deck  by  means  of  a  derrick.  Some  of  the  blocks  weigh 
several  tons,  and  altogether  we  take  on  enough  ice  to  last 
us  the  rest  of  the  voyage. 

But  what   are   those   queer-looking  boats  making  out 


IN  AND  ABOUT  THE  STRAIT  OF  MAGELLAN     185 

from  the  shore?  They  look  like  canoes,  and  each  has  a 
fire  in  the  center,  about  which  are  huddling  brown-skinned, 
frowzy-headed  men,  women,  and  children.  They  are 
almost  naked,  and  the  man  paddling  the  front  boat  wears 
little  more  than  a  vest.  The  boat  behind  contains  several 
children  who  wear  no  clothes  at  all. 


These  people  have  no  home  except  a  canoe  in  which  a  fire  is  always 
kept  smoldering  on  sods.     Although    the   climate  is  cold,  they  go 
almost  naked. 


These  people  are  savages  who  live  along  the  far  southern 
coast  of  western  South  America.  They  belong  to  a  tribe 
called  Alacalufes  (a-la-ka-loo'fes),  and  they  are  not  Hke 
any  Indians  of  the  other  parts  of  our  hemisphere.  They 
usually  live  in  their  canoes  although  they  sometimes  sleep 
upon  land  in  httle  wigwams  about  as  high  as  your  waist. 
They  make  the  wigwams  by  bending  over  the  branches 
of  small  trees  and  tying  them  together.  They  then  build 
a  fire  in  front  and   crawl  into  their  little  houses  for  the 


1 86  SOUTH  AMERICA 

night.  They  seldom  sleep  m  the  same  place  for  more  than 
a  week,  for  it  is  much  easier  to  build  a  new  house  than  to  go 
back  home  if  they  have  wandered  far.  The  men  have 
bows  and  arrows  to  defend  themselves.  The  women,  as 
a  rule,  do  the  fishing,  using  lines  without  hooks.  A  Httle 
chunk  of  meat  is  tied  to  the  end  of  the  line.  The  fish 
swallows  it  and  the  woman  jerks  it  into  her  canoe. 

The  food  of  these  savages  is  fish,  mussels,  and  now  and 
then  a  fox,  seal,  or  otter.  They  are  fond  of  whale  meat, 
and  if  they  can  find  a  dead  whale  they  will  feast  upon  it 
for  weeks.  They  do  not  seem  to  care  for  fresh  meat,  for 
they  cut  it  into  pieces  and  bury  it,  digging  it  up  for  food 
as  long  as  it  lasts.  They  are  fond  of  tobacco  and  biscuits, 
and  row  about  our  ship  holding  out  their  hands  and  calKng 
out  in  shrill  voices,  "  Galleta !  Galleta!"  and  "Tabaco! 
Tabaco!"  the  Spanish  words  for  cake  and  tobacco. 

We  wonder  that  they  do  not  take  cold.  The  hills  on 
the  shore  are  covered  with  snow,  and  we  have  on  our 
heaviest  garments.  There  is  not  enough  cloth  in  the  whole 
crowd  below  us  to  make  a  full  suit  for  a  four-year-old  child. 
We  pity  the  poor  naked  savages  and  one  of  us  goes  to  his 
cabin  and  gets  out  a  pair  of  old  trousers.  He  throws 
them  into  one  of  the  boats.  See,  that  woman  has  grabbed 
them.  She  evidently  does  not  know  what  they  are  for ; 
she  is  tying  them  around  her  neck  and  fastening  the  legs 
over  her  chest.  Until  white  people  came  these  Indians 
used  no  clothes  at  all.  A  thick  coat  of  whale  oil  or  seal 
oil  was  enough  to  keep  out  the  cold.  Now  they  sometimes 
wear  such  cast-off  things  as  they  can  get  from  the  steamers, 
but  as  a  rule  go  naked. 

The  Alacalufes  do  not  know  the  use  of  money.  We  try 
to  buy  some  skins  of  them  but  they  sneer  at  the  sight  of 
our  silver  and  bank  notes.     They  act  differently  as  we 


IN  AND  ABOUT  THE  STRAIT  OF  MAGELLAN     187 

show  them  some  bright  cloths  and  beads,  and  when  the 
steward  holds  up  a  butcher  knife  one  of  the  savages  is  glad 
to  give  him  two  skins  in  exchange.  We  ask  them  to  come 
on  board  but  they  are  afraid  and  draw  back.  They  are 
not  friendly  to  strangers  and  would  kill  a  white  man  if 
they  could  catch  one  alone. 

On  our  way  farther  south  we  cast  anchor  night  after  night, 
for  it  is  too  dangerous  to  travel  by  dark.  The  scenery  grows 
grander  until  at  last  we  steam  through  a  narrow  channel, 
the  mouth  of  which  seems  to  be  blocked  by  a  great  island. 
As  we  come  nearer  we  see  a  wide  waterway  opening  beyond, 
and  the  captain  tells  us  the  island  is  called  Desolation  Island 
and  that  we  are  at  last  in  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 

Standing  at  the  stern,  we  look  to  the  west,  and  off  in 
the  distance  see  massive  rocks.  They  belong  to  Cape 
Pilar  at  the  entrance  to  the  strait  from  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
The  channel  in  front  of  our  vessel  is  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 
It  extends  eastward  from  here  for  a  distance  of  more  than 
three  hundred  miles,  winding  its  way  in  and  out  between 
the  mainland  of  Patagonia  and  the  islands  of  the  archi- 
pelago of  Tierra  del  Fuego  (tyer'ra  del  fwa'go)  until  it 
opens  into  the  Atlantic.  In  passing  through  the  strait 
we  are  at  times  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  shore.  We  sail 
under  great  mountains,  and  in  the  distance  often  see  the 
high  peaks  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  and  other  islands  of  the 
archipelago.  At  the  eastern  end  the  passage  widens, 
the  land  is  low,  and  the  waters  almost  bound  the  horizon. 

The  Strait  of  Magellan  is  one  of  the  commercial  liighways 
of  the  world,  and  until  the  Panama  Canal  was  built  it  was 
the  shortest  way  from  Europe  to  the  west  coast  of  South 
America.  It  was  discovered  in  1520  by  a  Portuguese 
navigator,  Ferdinand  Magellan,  and  has  been  explored 
by  others  from  time  to  time. 


1 88  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Magellan  passed  through  the  strait  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific.  He  crossed  that  ocean  to  the  Philippine 
Islands,  where  he  was  killed  by  the  natives,  and  one  of 
his  vessels  was  burned.  The  other  two  ships  sailed  for 
the  Molucca  Islands,  where  they  loaded  with  spices.  One 
of  the  ships  then  sailed  for  Panama  and  was  lost.  The 
other,  the  Victoria,  with  eighteen  men  sailed  for  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  and  then  north  to  Europe,  making  the  first 
voyage  around  the  world. 

The  strait  is  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long, 
varying  in  width  from  two  to  twenty-four  miles.  It  has 
deep  waters  all  the  way,  but  winds  about  so  that  large 
saiUng  vessels,  on  account  of  the  changing  winds  and  the 
calms,  prefer  to  go  around  stormy  Cape  Horn,  although 
this  takes  them  many  hundred  miles  out  of  their  way. 

It  is  different  with  the  steamers.  They  can  move 
whether  the  wind  blows  or  not.  Some  of  the  vessels 
crossing  the  Atlantic  between  Australia  and  Europe  and 
those  going  to  and  from  the  east  and  west  coasts  of  South 
America  still  pass  through  the  strait, 'although  many  now 
go  by  the  Panama  Canal.  There  are  so  many  ships  which 
use  the  strait  that  a  city  has  grown  up  here  at  the  tail  of 
the  continent  to  furnish  them  coal  and  other  supplies. 
This  city  is  about  midway  through  the  strait.  It  is  Punta 
Arenas,  or  Sandy  Point,  and  here  we  shall  stay  for  a  time. 

XXV.     AT  THE   END   OF   THE   CONTINENT 

PUNTA  ARENAS  is  the  southernmost  city  of  the  world. 
It  is  more  than  twelve  hundred  miles  nearer  the  South 
Pole  than  Cape  Town  in  Africa,  and  it  is  several  thousand 
miles  farther  south  than  any  city  of  Europe  or  Asia.     Its 


AT  THE  END  OF  THE  CONTINENT  189 

latitude  is  53°  south;  it  is  farther  from  the  equator  than 
Winnipeg  or  Liverpool,  and  about  as  far  south  as  Berlin 
is  north  of  that  line.  The  town  is  a  lonesome  one.  There 
is  no  settlement  of  any  size  within  a  thousand  miles  of  it, 
and  its  supplies  are  brought  in  by  steamers.  The  reason 
for  its  location  is  its  situation  where  ships  can  stop  to  coal 
and  get  fresh  supplies  for  the  long  voyages  they  have  yet 
to  make.  Not  far  from  the  pier  we  find  great  stores  of 
coal  and  warehouses  filled  with  foodstuffs  and  there  are 
Enghsh  and  German  steamers  in  the  harbor.  We  come 
to  anchor  near  a  vessel  from  New  Zealand.  She  has  hghters 
beside  her  and  the  men  are  loading  and  unloading  freight. 

We  take  a  small  boat  to  the  pier  and  by  a  short  walk  are 
in  the  heart  of  the  city.  What  a  queer  place  it  is !  The 
town  has  been  cut  out  of  the  forest,  and  the  hills  about  it 
are  covered  with  woods.  Nevertheless,  it  has  wide,  well- 
paved  streets  and  a  beautiful  plaza  faced  by  good  houses 
and  stores.  The  town  is  hghted  by  electricity  and  has  a 
cathedral,  fine  public  buildings,  and  many  comfortable 
houses.  We  visit  the  museum  to  look  at  the  beasts,  birds, 
and  reptiles  of  this  far  southern  country,  and  in  the  stores 
buy  some  ostrich  feathers,  guanaco  skins,  and  Indian 
baskets  to  take  home. 

We  are  interested  in  the  people  we  meet  on  the  streets. 
There  are  many  Chileans  and  also  Danes,  Norwegians, 
and  Swedes  who  have  a  large  share  in  the  navigation  of 
the  strait.  There  are  English  and  others  who  have  come 
here  to  raise  sheep,  and  we  are  told  that  the  land  is  so  good 
for  this  purpose  that  many  million  pounds  of  wool  are 
exported  each  year. 

During  our  stay  we  make  a  tour  through  the  archipelago 
of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  which  borders  the  southern  end  of 
South  America.     It  is  composed  of  hundreds  of  wooded 


IQO 


AT  THE  END  OF  THE  CONTINENT  191 

islands  which  look  very  small  on  the  map.  Most  of  them 
are  small,  but  all  together  they  contain  nearly  as  much 
land  as  Maine ;  and  Tierra  del  Fuego,  the  largest,  is  almost 
equal  to  West  Virginia  in  size. 

Tierra  del  Fuego  belongs  to  both  Chile  and  Argentina, 
the  boundary  running  north  and  south  through  it.  The 
island  Ues  just  across  the  strait  from  Punta  Arenas,  and 
steamers  go  there  almost  every  day.  We  take  passage 
upon  one  for  Port  Venir  and  from  there  make  excursions 
by  boat  and  on  horseback. 

The  island  has  a  rim  of  mountains  around  the  greater 
part  of  it.  The  mountains  rise  almost  straight  from  the 
water,  and  huge  glaciers  hang  down  from  them,  now  and 
then  breaking  off  and  falling  into  the  sea  with  a  terrible 
noise.  The  scenery  is  grand  but  the  waters  are  rough 
and  we  have  to  move  slowly. 

As  we  near  the  shore  we  see  men  here  and  there  washing 
the  sands  for  gold,  and  are  told  that  in  time  of  storms  gold 
grains  and  small  nuggets  are  frequently  thrown  up  on  the 
be^ch.  Some  of  the  nuggets  are  as  big  as  marrowfat  peas. 
This  gold  comes  from  ledges  found  near  the  shores  of  some 
parts  of  the  island.  The  miners  go  out  upon  the  beach  at 
low  tide  and  gather  the  sand  which  they  wash  for  the  gold. 
Gold,  coal,  and  copper  are  found  on  the  mainland  not  far 
from  Punta  Arenas.  Balboa  found  gold  in  the  Andes  near 
Panama,  and  it  is  mined  here  and  there  in  the  whole  length 
of  that  range,  even  to  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 

The  vegetation  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  surprises  us.  We 
are  so  far  south  that  it  seems  that  the  country  in  winter 
should  be  covered  with  snow.  It  is  not.  The  climate  is 
much  like  that  of  Scotland.  It  is  only  on  the  tops  of  the 
mountains  that  the  snow  remains  all  the  year,  and  the 
glaciers  moving  down  their  slopes  are  bedded  in   green. 


192  SOUTH   AMERICA 

For  a  thousand  feet  up  from  the  water  the  land  is  so  cov- 
ered with  trees,  ferns,  and  moss  that  we  can  hardly  make 
our  way  through,  and  some  of  the  trees  are  as  big  as  those 
of  the  tropics.  The  island  has  beeches  eighty  or  ninety 
feet  high  and  two  yards  in  thickness.  It  has  hardwood 
trees  somewhat  like  those  of  our  central  states.  Much  of 
the  forest  is  of  evergreen  trees,  and  the  grass  is  green  the 
year  around. 

In  the  interior  of  the  island  we  shall  find  great  plains 
spotted  with  wild  flowers.  There  are  wild  gooseberries, 
raspberries,  and  strawberries,  and  also  wild  grapes  and  wild 
celery.  The  farmers  raise  cabbages,  potatoes,  turnips, 
and  peas.  The  pasture  is  so  rich  that  the  sheep  are  easily 
fattened.  The  mild  climate  is  caused  by  the  warm  winds 
from  the  ocean. 

We  have  to  ride  carefully  as  we  make  our  way  inland. 
The  land  is  often  swampy,  and  we  guide  our  horses  this 
way  and  that  to  avoid  the  homes  of  the  rats.  Ground 
rats  are  the  chief  pests  of  Tierra  del  Fuego.  They 
burrow  through  the  earth  and  fill  it  with  holes  like  those 
of  a  prairie  dog  town.  They  destroy  the  pastures  and 
eat  so  much  grass  that  the  shepherds  wage  war  upon  them 
by  driving  herds  of  cattle  over  their  burrows,  thus  trampUng 
them  to  death  in  their  homes. 

We  stop  some  days  with  the  sheep  farmers.  The  sheep 
are  kept  in  flocks  of  one  or  two  thousand  and  are  watched 
by  shepherds  on  horseback.  Each  shepherd  has  dogs  to 
help  him.  Most  of  the  dogs  are  Scotch  collies  which  seem 
to  understand  the  motions  of  their  masters  almost  as  well 
as  we  understand  language.  A  certain  motion  will  send 
a  dog  to  the  front,  another  will  bring  him  to  the  rear, 
and  when  the  man  raises  his  hand  into  the  air  the  dog 
stops  short.     The  shepherd  can  direct  his  dogs  to  the  right 


The  Ona  Indians  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  arc  tall  and  tine  looking. 

They  use  bows  and  arrows  and  wear  guanaco  skins. 

193 


194  SOUTH  AMERICA 

or  to  the  left,  and,  in  fact,  make  them  drive  the  sheep  in 
any  direction  he  pleases. 

The  sheep  of  this  part  of  the  world  are  not  fed  in  winter 
from  barns  or  haystacks.  The  grass  keeps  green  all  the 
year,  and  the  only  dangers  are  that  the  sheep  may  get  lost, 
be  stolen  by  the  Indians,  or  eaten  by  wild  beasts  or  vultures. 
The  sheep  are  often  so  fat  and  heavy  that  when  one  falls 
into  a  hollow  and  rolls  over  on  its  back  it  cannot  get  up. 
It  lies  there  kicking,  and  the  vultures  sweep  down  upon 
it  and  pick  out  its  eyes.  The  vultures  seem  to  understand 
that  a  bhnd  sheep  is  helpless,  and  they  keep  on  picking 
until  it  dies.  After  that  they  tear  off  the  skin  and  eat  every 
bit  of  meat  from  the  bones.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  men  to 
be  on  hand  when  a  sheep  falls  and  help  it  to  its  feet  again. 

We  are  interested  in  the  Indians  of  Tierra  del  Fuego. 
The  island  has  fierce  savages  called  Onas  who  for  a  long 
time  waged  war  with  the  shepherds.  The  Onas  are  among 
the  finest-looking  of  the  Indian  race.  The  men  are  about 
six  feet  tall,  and  the  women  almost  that  height.  They 
have  high  cheekbones,  flat  noses,  and  dark  eyes.  Their 
hair  is  black  and  straight.  The  men  singe  their  heads 
close  to  the  crown,  and  the  women  let  their  hair  grow  so 
that  it  hangs  over  their  shoulders.  The  Onas  wear  but  little 
clothing  except  guanaco  skins  wrapped  about  their  bodies. 
They  five  on  the  land  but  have  no  fixed  homes.  They  do 
not  hke  to  stay  more  than  a  night  or  two  in  the  same  place, 
for  they  have  an  idea  that  evil  spirits  are  aftQr  them  and 
that  they  must  move  on.  When  they  stop  they  merely 
make  a  hole  in  the  ground  about  three  feet  deep  and  weave 
branches  over  it.  They  then  crawl  in  for  the  night  and 
cuddle  together  with  their  dogs  about  them  for  warmth. 
The  chief  weapons  of  the  Onas  are  bows  and  arrows,  and 
they  get  their  food  by  hunting  and  trapping. 


AT  THE  END  OF  THE   CONTINENT 


195 


Another  Indian 
tribe  is  the  Yaghans 
(ya'gans).  It  is 
largely  confined  to 
the  southern  part  of 
the  island.  These 
Indians  are  much 
like  the  Onas  except 
that  they  get  their 
living  from  the  sea 
rather  than  from  the 
land.  They  eat  fish, 
birds,  fungi,  oysters, 
and  clams.  They 
cook  birds  by  put- 
ting red  hot  stones 
inside  them  and 
placing  them  on  the 
coals.  They  roast 
eggs  by  standing 
them  upright  in  the 
ashes  before  the  fire, 
first  breaking  a  hole 
in  each  egg  to  let 
the  steam  out.  The 
men  are  good  hunt- 
ers and  the  women 
excellent  fishers, 
being  more  fearless 
than  the  men  in 
swimming  and  in  the 
management  of  their 
boats. 


SCALE  or  MILES 


00      MO      100 


•^'^^: 


Cape  Horn 


Principal  Railroads   


196  SOUTH   AMERICA 

1.  Where  are  the  forests  of  Chile?  Why?  Where  are  the  great 
forests  of  the  United  States? 

2.  Why  has  southern  ChUe  a  great  leather  industry? 

3.  Describe  our  visit  to  the  coal  mines.  Compare  it  with  a  trip 
through  a  Pennsylvania  coal  mine.  (See  Carpenter's  "North 
America.")  Near  what  port  are  the  Chilean  mines?  Mention 
three  other  important  ports  of  south  ChUe. 

4.  Find  Cape  Horn  on  the  map.  What  is  the  Strait  of  Magellan  ? 
How  was  it  discovered?  Find  out  all  you  can  about  Magellan  and 
the  first  voyage  around  the  world. 

5.  What  is  the  southernmost  town  of  the  world?  The  northern- 
most?    Compare  their  distances  from  the  poles. 

6.  Describe  our  trip  through  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  Compare 
its  climate  with  that  of  Scotland.     (See  Carpenter's  "Europe.") 

7.  What  great  island  is  at  the  southern  end  of  South  America? 
To  what  countries  does  it  belong?  Describe  it.  What  is  its  chief 
industry? 

8.  Who  are  the  Araucanians?  Compare  them  with  the  Indians 
of  Peru,  of  Bolivia,  and  of  North  America.  Describe  the  Alacalufes, 
the  Onas,  and  the  Yaghans. 

XXVI.    ARGENTINA  —  PATAGONIA 

THIS  morning  we  are  again  in  Punta  Arenas,  ready  to 
start  north  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent.  We 
shall  make  our  way  through  Patagonia,  which  is  the  name 
given  to  southern  Argentina.  Argentina  is  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  healthful  countries  of  South  America. 
It  has  a  vast  territory.  It  is  greater  than  all  our  states 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  It  extends  from  north  to 
south  through  thirty-four  degrees  of  latitude,  farther  than 
the  distance  between  the  north  side  of  Hudson  Bay  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  therefore  has  many  different  climates 
and  products.  In  the  warm  north  sugar  cane,  coconuts, 
and  oranges  grow.     The  central  provinces  are  temperate 


ARGENTINA  —  PATAGONIA  1 97 

and  are  covered  with  wheat  fields  and  pastures,  while  those 
of  the  far  south  are  almost  a  desert  with  a  climate  com[)ara- 
tively  cold.  There  sheep  are  fed  on  the  sparse  vegetation 
and  the  rivers  furnish  the  water  for  some  irrigated  tracts. 

Most  of  Argentina  is  flat,  and  railways  can  be  built  at 
comparatively  low  cost.  The  country  already  has  nearly 
one  tenth  as  much  railway  mileage  as  the  United  States. 
It  has  more  trunk  lines  than  any  other  South  American 
repubHc,  and  it  is  rapidly  increasing  this  means  of  trans- 
portation. There  are  many  great  plains  called  pampas 
upon  which  one  may  travel  hundreds  of  miles  without 
seeing  a  hill.  There  are  only  a  few  low  mountain  ranges, 
with  the  high  wall  of  the  Andes  in  the  west. 

Only  a  small  part  of  Argentina  is  settled.  In  this  respect 
the  country  is  as  the  United  States  was  many  years  ago. 
The  population  is  now  about  as  great  as  that  of  New  York 
State,  and  is  rapidly  increasing.  Immigrants  from  Europe 
are  coming  to  work  in  the  cities  or  to  raise  wheat,  cattle, 
and  sheep  in  the  country.  So  many  people  have  recently 
come  that  already  every  third  man  is  a  foreigner.  Most 
of  the  immigrants  are  from  Italy  and  Spain,  although  there 
are  some  Russians,  Syrians,  English,  Germans,  and  French. 
Many  Italians  come  over  to  work  for  the  summer,  when 
Italy  has  its  winter,  going  back  home  as  the  ItaHan  spring 
comes.  Argentina  is  glad  to  have  immigrants.  It  gives 
them  lands  at  low  prices,  and  it  has  established  free  hotels 
at  the  seaports  and  in  the  interior,  where  they  may  stay  on 
their  way  to  their  new  homes.  Many  of  the  immigrants 
live  in  Patagonia,  and  we  shall  see  some  of  them  on  our 
way  north. 

Patagonia  is  the  name  formerly  used  for  the  whole  south- 
ern end  of  the  South  American  continent,  extending  from 
the  Strait  of  Magellan  to  about  forty  degrees  of  south  lati- 


198  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tude.  It  once  included  southern  Chile  and  southern  Ar- 
gentina, but  the  name  now  applies  only  to  the  part  east  of 
the  Andes.  This  will  form  the  next  scene  of  our  travels. 
A  coasting  ship  takes  us  from  Punta  Arenas  around  Cape 
Virgin  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  strait,  and  we  make  our 
way  along  the  coast,  calling  at  Santa  Cruz,  Rawson,  and 
other  ports  where  we  take  on  wool,  and  now  and  then  stop 
for  a  short  run  into  the  interior. 

How  bleak  and  bare  everything  is !  The  water-laden 
winds  come  from  the  Pacific,  and  have  dropped  their  rains 
in  Chile  west  of  the  Andes.  When  they  reach  Patagonia 
they  are  dry  and  the  whole  country  seems  nothing  but  sand. 
There  are  no  trees  to  speak  of.  The  only  green  fields  are 
in  the  river  valleys  where  the  land  has  been  irrigated  and 
in  the  west  along  the  foothills  of  the  Andes.  The  valleys 
have  many  orchards  and  vineyards,  the  latter  producing 
thousands  of  gallons  of  wine  every  year.  In  the  Chubut 
(choo-bootO  province  are  millions  of  sheep,  cattle,  and 
horses,  and  in  Santa  Cruz,  still  farther  south,  about  fifty 
million  pounds  of  wool  are  sold  in  one  year.  At  some  of 
the  ports  mutton  is  being  frozen  for  shipment  to  Europe. 
In  this  part  of  Argentina  many  of  the  farmers  are  Welsh- 
men. They  are  very  thrifty  and  the  towns  are  well-kept. 
A  little  later  we  are  again  on  the  sea,  going  north,  and  now 
we  are  sailing  up  the  deep  but  narrow  harbor  of  Bahia 
Blanca,  on  the  edge  of  a  more  fertile  part  of  the  country. 

Bahia  Blanca  is  the  chief  port  of  Argentina  on  the  Atlantic. 
Buenos  Aires  is  much  larger,  but  it  is  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata 
River,  more  than  one  hundred  miles  from  the  ocean.  Bahia 
Blanca  is  right  on  the  sea,  and  has  great  elevators  for  the 
storing  of  grain,  and  the  best  of  shipping  arrangements. 
It  has  a  good  harbor  with  deep  water  at  all  times,  and  it  is 
accessible  to  all  parts  of  the  country  by  railway. 


ARGENTINA  —  PATAGONIA 


199 


A  railroad  has  been  built  from  here  over  the  desert  pampas 
to  the  foot  of  the  Andes.  It  will  cross  the  Andes  to  Chile 
by  a  low  pass  and  end  at  the  port  of  Valdivia  on  the  Pacific. 
This  will  be  a  shorter  route  from  ocean  to  ocean  than  the 
Transandine  rail- 
road farther  north. 

Let  us  take  this 
railroad  and  ride 
over  the  dry  pampas 
to  the  beautiful  lake 
of  Nahuel  Huapi 
(na-wel'  wa-pe')  at 
the  foot  of  the 
Andes,  stopping 
now  and  then  on 
the  way.  What  a 
curious  region  it  is  ! 
We  go  for  miles 
seeing  nothing  but 
sand  with  thorny, 
scrubby  bushes 
growing  here  and 
there.  There  is  but 
little  grass, — so 
little,  indeed,  that  it 

takes  from  three  to  five  acres  to  furnish  food  for  one  sheep. 
'It  reminds  us  of  the  sage-brush  country  of  our  western 
highlands. 

How  wild  everything  is  !  There  is  not  a  fence  to  be  seen. 
There  are  no  barns,  no  roads,  no  farms,  nor  anything  hving. 
There  is  nothing  but  thorn  bushes  and  sand.  But  stop ! 
What  are  those  yellow  animals  galloping  away  to  the  right  ? 
There  must  be  fifty  of  them.     They  look  like  miniature 


A  guanaco.    Among  native  South  Ameri- 
can animals,  the  Uama,  vicuna,  alpaca,  and 
guanaco  take  the  place  of  cattle,  sheep, 
and  deer. 


200  SOUTH  AMERICA 

camels.  They  are  bigger  than  sheep  and  more  beautiful 
than  llamas.  See  how  queerly  they  run.  Their  gait  is 
more  like  short  jumps  than  a  gallop.  What  are  they? 
They  are  guanacos,  animals  of  the  same  family  as  the  llama, 
only  wild  and  not  quite  so  large.  They  are  hard  to  shoot, 
for  they  have  a  keen  sense  of  smell  and  can  scent  a  hunter 
a  full  mile  away.  Guanaco  flesh  tastes  much  Hke  venison 
and  is  delicious  when  roasted  over  the  coals.  The  fur  is  of 
a  tawny  yellow  spotted  with  white ;  three  or  four  skins 
sewed  together  make  a  beautiful  rug. 

Now  we  have  left  the  guanacos  far  in  the  rear.  We  are 
again  surrounded  by  nothing  but  thorn  bushes  and  sand, 
with  hundreds  of  spots  of  white  far  off  to  the  right.  The 
white  spots  are  moving.  They  are  sheep,  and  that  little 
brown  figure  running  here  and  there  among  them  is  their 
shepherd  on  horseback.  He  is  so  far  off  that  he  looks  like 
a  pygmy,  and  his  horse  looks  the  size  of  a  dog. 

But  what  are  those  gray  birds  swimming  through  the 
air  over  the  plains?  They  are  coming  toward  us.  That 
is  a  flock  of  rheas  or  South  American  ostriches.  Their 
wings  are  outstretched,  and  they  hold  their  heads  far  in 
front  of  them.  They  fairly  skim  over  the  ground,  their 
long  legs  kicking  up  a  dust  as  they  go.  Some  of  them  run 
very  fast.  There  is  one  which  has  started  up  out  of  the 
bushes  and  is  racing  our  train.  We  are  going  at  a  speed 
of  forty  miles  an  hour.  The  ostrich  keeps  up  with  us  a  few 
minutes  and  then  drops  behind.  ♦ 

There  are  many  wild  ostriches  through  this  whole  region, 
and  had  we  time  we  might  capture  one.  The  proper  way 
to  catch  them  is  by  means  of  a  bola,  a  long  string  of  tough 
leather  with  an  iron  ball  as  big  as  your  fist  at  each  end.  The 
hunter  rides  after  the  ostrich  on  horseback  and  when  he 
gets   near   enough,    throws    the    bola   so    that    the   string 


ARGENTINA  --  PAFACOXIA 


20 1 


wraps  itself  around  the  legs  of  the  bird,  which  falls  to  the 
ground. 

Ostriches  are  not  easy  to  catch.  When  hunted  they 
often  squat  down  and  hide  their  heads  in  the  sand.  Many 
people  who  have  not 
seen  these  birds  in 
their  homes  think 
this  fooHsh,  but  on 
the  desert  there 
could  be  nothing 
more  cunning.  The 
feathers  of  the  os- 
trich are  of  much 
the  same  color  as 
the  bushes  of  the 
pampas,  and  when 
one  of  them  hides 
his  head  he  looks 
like  a  gray  bush,  and 
the  hunter  may  ride 
by  without  noticing 
him. 

These  ostriches 
are  not  Hke  those  of 
Africa  which  furnish 
the  fine  feathers  our 
mothers  use  in  their 
hats.  Many  of  the 
African  ostriches  are 
found  wild  in  the  Sahara  desert,  and  they  are  reared  on 
the  farms  of  South  Africa.  The  rhea  is  much  smaller  and 
its  feathers  are  coarser.  The  feathers  are  used  to  make 
dusters,  and  rugs  are  made  of  the  breasts  of  the  young 


The  South  American  ostrich  is  a  distant 
cousin  of  the  African  bird.     His  plumage 
is  of  little  value. 


202  SOUTH  AMERICA 

birds.  Would  it  not  be  fine  if  we  could  each  take  home 
a  rug  of  ostrich  breasts? 

But  here  we  are  at  a  station.  What  a  lonesome  place  for 
a  town !  And  such  a  town !  The  half  dozen  houses  are 
gray,  one-story  structures  built  of  sheet  iron  imported  from 
the  United  States.  The  station  itself  is  of  iron,  and  that 
water  tank  there  stands  upon  a  framework  of  the  same 
metal.     The  windmill  above  the  tank  came  from  Chicago. 

The  men  on  the  platform  are  fierce-looking  fellows  with 
bright-colored  ponchos  over  their  shoulders.  They  are 
gauchos,  or  Argentine  cowboys,  who  herd  the  cattle  and 
now  and  then  work  for  the  sheep  farmers  at  shearing  time. 
We  shall  see  more  of  them  farther  north. 

Now  we  are  again  on  the  desert.  We  have  left  the  cars 
for  a  time  and  are  alone  on  plains  as  dry  as  the  coast  of  Peru. 
Our  cheeks  burn  and  our  hps  crack  under  the  hot  sun  in 
the  clear,  thirsty  air. 

What  is  that  cloud  coming  up  ?  That  surely  is  the  sign 
of  a  storm  !  Hear  the  wind  !  It  is  blowing  with  the  force 
of  a  blizzard  and  driving  the  cloud  toward  us.  Yes,  this 
is  a  storm,  but  not  a  rainstorm.  The  cloud  is  now  between 
us  and  the  sun,  which  has  become  a  great  round  red  ball 
instead  of  the  fiery  white  furnace  it  was  a  moment  ago. 
The  cloud  is  not  water.  It  is  dust  and  sand.  We  are  in 
the  midst  of  one  of  the  sandstorms  of  the  pampas.  Our 
guide  drags  us  down  into  a  hole  he  finds  in  the  desert  and 
draws  our  blankets  over  the  top. 

Soon  the  storm  is  upon  us.  The  sand  comes  down  like 
fine  hail.  It  sifts  through  the  blankets  and  we  close  our 
eyes.  Now  it  is  over,  and  we  find  we  have  a  heavy  load  to 
raise  when  we  push  back  the  blankets.  How  queer  we 
look !  We  thought  we  were  white,  but  the  sand  which  has 
drifted  through  the  blankets  has  turned  us  brown.     Our 


ARGENTINA  —  LIFE  ON  THE  PAMPAS  203 

nostrils,  ears,  and  mouths  are  filled  with  dust,  and  our 
clothes  are  covered  with  sand. 

Such  storms  are  common  on  the  pampas  of  southern  Ar- 
gentina. The  dust  is  as  fine  as  flour.  It  comes  in  great 
clouds,  and  in  the  cities  it  covers  the  houses.  It  creeps 
through  every  crack  and  crevice,  closed  doors  and  windows 
being  no  protection.  The  dust  goes  with  the  wind  and  is 
often  followed  by  a  drenching  rain.  This  wets  the  dust  in 
the  air  and  for  a  time  it  really  rains  mud.  If  the  rain  does 
not  last  long  the  houses  are  covered  with  mud,  and  it  is  only 
when  the  rain  is  heavy  that  they  are  washed  clean.  These 
storms  sometimes  stop  the  railroad  trains,  steam  plows  like 
our  snow  plows  being  used  to  keep  the  tracks  clear. 


3>»iO 


XXVII.     IN  ARGENTINA  —  LIFE   ON  THE 
PAMPAS 

ALONG  ride  by  train  has  brought  us  back  to  Bahia 
Blanca.  Here  we  again  take  the  railroad  and  are 
soon  traveling  through  some  of  the  great  pasture  lands  of 
the  world.  Some  parts  of  the  country  are  fenced  with 
barbed  wire,  but  most  of  it  is  just  as  nature  made  it  —  vast 
pampas  which  extend  on  and  on  until  they  lose  themselves 
in  the  sky. 

Now  we  see  a  flock  of  two  thousand  sheep  browsing  on 
the  rich  grass.  Their  white  wool  shines  among  the  dark- 
green  bushes.  We  hear  the  baa,  baa  of  the  lambs  and  the 
coarser  voices  of  the  old  sheep  as  we  go  by. 

Over  there  on  the  horizon  is  a  drove  of  horses,  mere  brown 
specks  against  the  blue  sky,  and  between  us  and  them  a 
long  train  of  huge  carts,  each  hauled  by  eight  oxen,  is  drag- 


204 


ARGENTINA  — LIFE   ON   THE   PAMPAS  205 

ging  its  weary  way  over  the  plains.  Those  carts  are  filled 
with  wool  or  hides,  and  the  men  walking  beside  them  are 
driving  the  teams  to  the  station. 

In  these  pastures  is  found  the  chief  wealth  of  Argentina. 
The  country  has  many  million  head  of  live  stock.  It  has 
so  many  that  if  they  were  divided  equally  among  the  people, 
each  family  would  have  fifty  sheep,  twenty  cows,  five  horses, 
and  seven  or  eight  hogs.  We  might  travel  back  and  forth 
across  the  republic  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  rude  huts 
of  the  herdsmen  and  now  and  then  the  larger  buildings  of 
some  rich  farmer,  see  little  else  than  great  flocks  of  sheep 
and  droves  of  cattle  and  horses. 

Argentina  ranks  third  among  the  sheep-growing  coun- 
tries of  the  world.  The  sheep  are  watched  by  shepherds  on 
horseback.  They  can  feed  out  of  doors  all  the  year  round, 
for  the  climate  is  mild  and  there  is  good  grass  in  all  seasons. 

We  see  very  few  barns  and  haystacks  as  we  ride  over  the 
pampas.  The  farmers  seldom  raise  hay  or  corn  for  their 
stock.  It  is  necessary  only  to  let  the  animals  graze  and 
give  them  some  salt  now  and  then.  The  sheep  must  be 
watched  on  account  of  the  vultures. 

The  shearing  is  done  once  a  year,  sometimes  by  hand 
and  sometimes  by  machinery.  The  wool  is  cut  off  and  put 
in  bales  much  as  we  bale  cotton.  It  is  then  shipped  to 
Bahia  Blanca  or  Buenos  Aires  and  there  transferred  to 
steamers  for  Europe  or  the  United  States.  Much  of  the 
wool  goes  to  Boston,  and  is  woven  to  cloth  in  the  woolen 
mills  of  New  England. 

For  a  long  time  the  sheep  of  Argentina  were  reared  for 
their  wool  only.  The  home  demand  for  mutton  was  small, 
and  in  the  city  chops  cost  only  a  few  cents  a  pound.  Xow 
mutton  is  exported  by  the  shipload  to  Europe,  and  there 
are  great  factories  at  Buenos  Aires  and  even  as  far  south 


2o6 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


as  the  Strait  of  Magellan  which  freeze  it  for  export.  In 
these  factories  the  sheep  are  killed  and  dressed,  and  then 
hung  in  rooms  which  are  made  so  cold  by  certain  chemical 

processes  that  the 
meat  soon  freezes 
stiff.  In  this  state  it 
will  keep.  It  is  then/ 
wrapped  in  white 
cloth  and  carried  to 
the  refrigerators  of 
the  steamers  which 
take  it  to  Europe. 
As  soon  as  it  lands 
there  it  is  thawed 
and  placed  on  the 
butchers'  counters 
for  sale.  It  then 
looks  like  freshly- 
killed  meat  and 
when  cooked  tastes 
like  fresh  mutton. 
Beef,  as  we  shall  see 
later,  is  exported  in 
the  same  way. 

But  let  us  leave 
the  train  and  ride 
on  horseback  over 
the  pampas.  Here 
we  are  at  the  home 
of  a  shepherd.  How  rude  it  is !  It  is  a  hut  made  of  poles 
covered  with  mud,  and  its  roof  is  of  straw  thatch.  We 
have  to  stoop  to  enter  the  door,  and  we  look  about  in  vain 
for  chairs  for  our  party.     The  hut  is  scantily  furnished. 


CATTLE 
NUMBER 

EACH  DOT  REPRESENTS  6.000 


ARGENTINA  — LIFE  ON  THE  PAMPAS  207 

Much  of  the  cooking  is  done  on  the  ground  outside.  The 
oven  is  that  round  mound  of  mud  which  looks  like  a 
beehive. 

The  shepherd  lives  with  his  Little  family  all  alone  here, 
away  out  on  the  plain.  He  spends  the  day  riding  about 
among  the  sheep,  and  at  night  drives  them  into  that  corral 
near  the  hut.  He  works  for  a  rich  farmer  who  owns  thou- 
'  sands  of  acres  of  land  and  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
^  sheep.  He  tells  us  that  the  estate,  or  estancia  (es-tan'sya), 
is  so  large  that  we  might  ride  all  day  in  one  direction  and 
not  come  to  its  end.  We  learn  later  that  much  of  the  land 
of  Argentina  is  in  large  tracts.  Land  is  not  sold  by  the 
acre,  but  by  the  square  league,  one  of  which  contains  nearly 
six  thousand  acres. 

But  suppose  we  go  farther  over  the  pampas.  We  gallop 
for  miles,  now  riding  where  the  turf  is  soft,  fresh,  and  green, 
and  now  where  the  grass  is  gray,  dead,  and  coarse.  This 
is  the  natural  grass  of  the  pampas.  The  green  turf  has  been 
pastured  year  after  year.  When  so  treated  the  coarse  grass 
disappears  and  a  more  tender  and  richer  grass  springs  up. 
But  see  that  smoke  away  off  to  the  right.  The  flames 
are  rolUng  up  from  the  earth  and  dense  wliite  clouds  are 
blowing  toward  us.  Is  that  a  prairie  fire  away  down  here 
on  the  pampas?  Don't  be  alarmed.  The  men  who  have 
lighted  the  fire  have  burned  a  strip  around  their  fields  so 
jthat  the  fire  will  not  go  beyond  them.  They  are  burning 
'off  the  coarse  grass  and  thorn  bushes,  after  which  a  better 
vegetation  will  come.  The  owners  say  it  improves  the 
land  to  burn  it  over  once  every  few  years. 

We  have  now  left  the  sheep  farm  and  arc  passing  through 
one  devoted  to  cattle  and  horses.  It  is  far  away  from  the 
cities  and  in  one  of  the  least  developed  parts  of  the  country. 
The  estancia  is  a  large  one,  and  we  might  ride  eighty  miles 


208 


ARGENTINA  —  LIFE  ON  THE  PAMPAS  209 

in  a  straight  line  and  not  get  across  it.  It  has  great  droves 
of  cattle  and  thousands  of  horses.  See,  they  are  branding 
the  animals.  They  have  driven  the  horses  into  an  inclosure 
fenced  by  stakes.  Now  they  have  caught  one  with  a  lasso. 
They  are  driving  him  about  in  a  circle.  Now  he  is  tired 
and  they  pull  him  down  to  the  ground.  One  man  sits  on 
his  head  and  another  holds  him  tight  by  a  rope  fastened 
about  his  front  legs,  while  a  third  seizes  a  hot  iron  from  a  fire 
near  by  and  burns  a  mark  on  his  side.  That  brand  is  the 
mark  of  the  owner,  and  by  it  he  can  claim  the  horse  if  it 
gets  lost. 

In  the  past,  droves  of  wild  horses  grazed  on  the  pampas. 
There  were  so  many  that  they  were  killed  for  their  hides 
and  tallow,  and  one  could  often  see  horse  hides  tied  to  stakes 
and  left  in  the  sun  to  dry.  The  animals  then  sold  for  a  few 
dollars,  and  each  and  every  native  owned  one  or  more. 
Now  Argentina  has  taken  to  breeding  fine  horses,  and  it 
has  some  of  the  best  of  all  South  America.  Every  spring 
there  are  horse  sales  near  Buenos  Aires  which  bring  several 
million  dollars,  and  where  a  single  animal  will  sell  for  several 
thousand  dollars.  Draft  and  race  horses  are  exported  to 
England,  and  racing  is  one  of  the  chief  sports  of  the  Ar- 
gentines. 

The  cattle  have  been  greatly  improved,  and  to-day  Ar- 
gentina stands  forth  among  the  cattle-growing  countries 
of  the  world.  In  no  part  of  our  country  have  we  finer  ani- 
mals than  are  reared  on  these  large  farms.  Not  long  ago 
a  Shorthorn  bull  was  sold  in  Buenos  Aires  for  forty- five 
thousand  dollars,  and  Hereford  calves  have  sold  for  as  much 
as  two  thousand  dollars.  A  great  dairy  business  is  fast 
growing  up,  and  outside  Buenos  Aires  are  dairies  with 
steam  churns,  each  of  which  will  make  five  hundred  pounds 
of  butter  an  hour. 


ARGENTINA  —  LIFE   ON   THE    PAMPAS  211 

Rearing  cattle  for  their  meat  has  become  a  great  industry, 
and  there  are  large  packing  houses  at  Bahia  Blanca,  Buenos 
Aires,  and  other  places  where  thousands  of  beeves  are  killed 
daily  and  exported  in  cold  storage  ships  to  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  These  estabhshments  are  called 
frigerificos,  or  freezing  establishments.     Some  of  the  largest 


Churns  run  by  electricity,  which  make  live  hundred  pounds  of 
butter  an  hour. 


of  them  belong  to  American  capitaHsts  and  are  associated 
with  our  chief  packing  companies  at  Chicago. 

During  our  visits  to  the  stock  farms  we  go  about  with 
the  gauchos  who  attend  to  the  cattle,  riding  on  horseback 
with  them  for  miles  over  the  great  fields.  They  are  dif- 
ferent from  the  laborers  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America, 
although  they  are  dark-faced  and  many  of  them    have 


212  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Indian  blood  in  their  veins.  What  a  queer  dress  they  wear ! 
Instead  of  trousers  they  have  white  drawers  which  are 
sometimes  tucked  into  their  high  boots  and  sometimes 
drawn  down  over  them,  being  edged  with  lace.  They  have 
blankets  around  their  waists,  the  ends  of  which  are  drawn 
through  between  the  legs  and  fastened  to  their  belts.  Most 
of  them  wear  slouch  hats.  Each  man  carries  a  whip,  and 
all  have  knives  in  their  belts.  These  gauchos  are  the  de- 
scendants of  the  mixed  breed  of  Spaniards  and  Indians. 
They  are  the  cowboys  of  the  pampas  and  hke  only  such 
work  as  can  be  done  upon  horseback  and  in  riding  over  the 
plains  watching  the  cattle  and  horses. 

As  we  ride  over  the  pampas  we  visit  one  of  their  houses. 
It  is  a  mud  hut  only  fifteen  feet  square,  and  the  door  is  so 
low  that  we  have  to  stoop  to  enter.  The  earth  is  the  floor, 
and  those  dry  bullock  skulls  scattered  about  are  the  seats. 
A  rude  table,  a  box,  and  a  chair  comprise  the  rest  of  the 
furniture. 

The  cooking  is  done  on  a  fire  outside  the  door.  The  chief 
food  is  beef  roasted  upon  a  spit  over  the  coals.  As  the  meat 
cooks,  the  gaucho's  wife  bastes  it  with  the  juice,  which  she 
catches  in  a  pan  as  it  falls.  When  done,  the  meat  is  cut 
off  in  large  slices  and  eaten  without  plates  or  forks.  Each 
one  takes  a  slice  in  his  hand,  puts  one  end  of  it  between  his 
teeth,  and,  pulling  out  the  sKce  as  far  as  he  can,  draws  his 
knife  across  it  within  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  of  his  nose. 
When  his  first  bite  is  chewed,  he  takes  another  in  the  same 
way,  so  that  he  really  has  no  need  of  a  fork. 

A  favorite  dish  is  carne  concuero  (carina  con-kwa'ro), 
which  means  meat  cooked  in  the  skin.  The  meat  is  cut 
from  the  animal  with  the  skin  upon  it.  It  is  wrapped  up 
tightly  so  that  the  skin  keeps  in  the  juices  when  roasted 
over  the  coals. 


THE  BREAD  LANDS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA        213 

1.  Between  what  latitudes  lies  the  republic  of  Argentina?  If  the 
country  were  laid  upon  North  America  with  Tierra  del  Fuego  at 
Florida,  where  would  the  northern  boundary  be?  What  South 
American  republic  has  the  most  railways? 

2.  Compare  Argentina  with  the  United  States  in  size  and  cHmale  ; 
with  Brazil.  Why  is  it  warm  in  the  southern  part  of  our  country 
and  cold  in  the  southern  part  of  Argentina?  What  season  have  we 
now  in  the  United  States?     What  season  has  Argentina  ? 

3.  Locate  Patagonia.  Why  is  Patagonia  so  dry  and  southern 
Chile  so  wet?     What  are  the  products  of  the  two  regions? 

4.  What  is  the  chief  Atlantic  port  of  Argentina?  Why  has 
Buenos  Aires  become  larger? 

5.  What  is  the  difference  between  the  guanaco  and  the  Uama? 
The  rhea  and  the  African  ostrich  ?  (See  Carpenter's  "  How  the  World 
is  Clothed,"  chapter  32  and  Carpenter's  "  Africa,"  chapter  44.) 
Why  is  the  ostrich  wise  to  hide  its  head  in  the  sand? 

6.  Compare  the  pampas  with  our  prairies. 

7.  Compare  Argentina  with  the  other  wool-growing  countries  of 
the  world.  (See  Table  IX.)  (See  Carpenter's  "How  the  World 
is  Clothed,"  chapter  10.)  Describe  a  sheep  farm.  Trace  a  shipload 
of  wool  from  Bahia  Blanca  to  Boston  ;  from  Sidney,  Australia,  to 
New  York. 

8.  Name  the  great  cattle  countries  of  the  world.  (See  Table 
VIII.)     Show  the  place  of  Argentina  among  them. 

9.  Who  are  the  gauchos?     How  do  they  live? 


XXVIII.     THE   BREAD   LANDS    OF 
SOUTH  AMERICA 

WE  shall  travel  to-day  through  some  of  the  chief  food 
lands  of  the  v^orld.  Argentina  grows  almost  all  kinds 
of  crops,  and  we  can  describe  only  a  few  of  them.  A 
large  part  of  the  country  has  corn  fields  almost  as  good  as 
our  own,  and  it  has  single  fields  of  alfalfa  that  contain  more 
than  one  thousand  acres.  Alfalfa  is  used  to  fatten  beef  for 
export,  and  in  that  respect  largely  takes  the  place  that  corn 


214  SOUTH   AMERICA 

holds  in  our  country.  Argentina  is  one  of  the  chief  wheat 
lands  of  the  world,  and  as  we  shall  see  later,  it  sends  wool  by 
the  shipload  to  the  United  States  and  Europe.  It  has  also 
in  the  northern  province  of  Tucuman  a  region  much  Kke 
Florida  and  Georgia  in  climate.  The  cotton  and  sugar 
lands  are  in  the  northern  part  of  the  republic,  and  we  shall 
visit  them  next. 

We  take  cars  at  Buenos  Aires  and  ride  for  two  days 
through  the  rich  farms  aloAg  the  Parana  River.  We  travel 
through  wheat  and  corn  fields  and  pastures.  The  weather 
grows  warmer  as  we  proceed,  and  at  last  we  enter  a  country 
where  there  are  oranges,  lemons,  and  other  tropical  fruits. 
We  are  now  in  Tucuman  (too-koo-man') . 

How  different  from  the  desert  north  of  Punta  Arenas ! 
All  nature  is  green,  for  the  soil  is  fertile  and  there  is  plenty 
of  rain.  We  pass  groves  of  tall  palm  trees,  their  green  fan- 
like leaves  rustling  in  the  wind.  We  visit  sugar  plantations 
where  gangs  of  men  and  women  are  cutting  the  cane.  They 
chop  it  off  close  to  the  ground  and  load  it  on  ox  carts  to  be 
hauled  to  the  factory.  We  follow  a  cart  and  watch  the  cane 
stalks  as  they  are  thrown  between  steel  rollers  which  squeeze 
out  the  juice,  and  farther  on  we  see  the  juice  boiled  down 
into  sugar. 

We  are  surrounded  by  mountains.  There  are  streams 
everywhere.  Some  are  almost  dry  now,  for  it  is  winter. 
,In  summer  the  rain  comes  down  in  great  sheets  and  turns 
the  streams  to  torrents.  We  can  see  how  they  have  cut 
deep  gorges  here  and  there  through  the  hills.  They  often 
flood  large  tracts  of  land. 

More  hills  come  into  view  as  we  leave  Tucuman  and  go 
westward  and  southward.  We  are  in  the  foothills  of  the 
Andes.  There  are  forests  of  fine  woods,  and  farther  south 
we  enter  a  land  of  great  vineyards. 


THE  BREAD  LANDS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA         215 

See  how  the  vines  cover  the  hills.  They  extend  on  and 
on  for  miles.  The  western  part  of  Argentina  is  a  rich 
grape-raising  country.  Trainloads  of  grapes  are  shipped 
from  here  to  Buenos  Aires  and  other  parts  of  the  rej)ublic. 
Some  go  even  as  far  as  the  United  States.  When  the  grapes 
are  ripe,  men,  women,  and  children  walk  through  the  vine- 
yards gathering  them  in  baskets  and  carrying  them  t(;  the 
wine  presses. 

Look  up  at  the  mountains  to  the  west.  Those  arc  the 
snow-capped  Andes.  This  town  into  wMch  we  are  coming 
is  Mendoza  (men-do'sa) ,  the  metropohs  of  the  grape-growing 
section,  and  that  snowy  peak  just  beyond  is  Mount 
Aconcagua.  We  saw  it  before  in  Chile.  Mendoza  is  a 
station  on  the  Transandine  railroad.  That  iron  track  which 
climbs  the  mountains  is  the  eastern  part  of  the  railway, 
over  the  western  part  of  which  we  had  such  a  pleasant 
journey  in  Chile  some  weeks  ago. 

There  is  a  good  railroad  from  here  to  Buenos  Aires,  and 
one  can  travel  in  comfortable  cars  to  almost  any  part  of 
the  repubhc.  We  decide  to  go  back  to  the  wheat  lands  by 
the  way  of  Cordoba  (kor'do-va)  and  stop  there  for  a  few 
hours  on  the  way. 

Have  you  ever  heard  of  Cordoba?  It  is  a  town  well 
known  in  the  history  of  South  America.  It  was  for  two 
hundred  years  one  of  the  chief  centers  of  education  and  cul- 
ture, and  it  had  a  university  seven  years  before  our  Pilgrim 
fathers  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock.  Cordoba  has  a  large 
university  now.  It  is  also  a  business  center  and  has  all 
modern  city  improvements,  including  electric  street  cars  and 
lights  run  by  the  power  from  the  Rio  Primero  (pre-ma'ro) 
near  by.  A  stay  here  will  give  us  some  idea  of  a  small  city 
of  Argentina. 

We  take  a  motor-car  at  the  station  and  drive  to  the  plaza. 


2i6  SOUTH  AMERICA 

which  is  in  the  center  of  the  town.  Cordoba  is  much  like 
the  cities  of  Chile  in  that  it  is  laid  out  in  blocks  with  its 
streets  crossing  one  another  at  right  angles.  The  blocks 
surround  the  plaza,  or  public  square.  Almost  all  the  houses 
are  of  one  story.  They  are  painted  in  the  brightest  of 
colors,  and  many  have  iron  bars  over  their  windows,  mak- 
ing us  think  of  a  jail. 

Back  of  these  bars  we  see  women  and  girls  standing  or 
sitting.  It  seems  as  though  the  girls  were  caged  in.  This 
is  so  in  almost  all  towns  of  Argentina.  Young  women  and 
girls  seldom  go  alone  on  the  streets.  They  are  not  allowed 
to  associate  with  young  men  or  boys  until  they  are  married, 
and  the  young  man  who  would  stop  at  a  window  and  chat 
would  be  told  to  move  on. 

We  drive  through  the  wide  Avenida  General  Paz,  admir- 
ing the  statues  at  its  ends,  and  then  out  among  the  shabby 
huts  of  the  suburbs  where  the  poor  people  live. 

Here  all  is  dirty  and  squalid,  but  the  sky  is  bright  blue, 
and  the  gorgeous  sunlight  gives  an  atmosphere  like  that  of 
the  Orient.  The  outskirts  of  Cordoba  remind  travelers 
of  Cairo ;  and  the  Moorish  architecture  of  the  churches 
and  of  the  better  class  houses  is  like  that  of  southern 
Spain. 

Now  we  are  again  in  the  city.  What  queer  names  for 
streets.  Some  are  taken  from  the  noted  days  of  the  history 
of  Argentina.  Here  is  one  called  Twenty-fifth  of  May 
Street.  We  turn  the  corner  and  go  into  the  street  of  the 
Eighteenth  of  July,  and  wonder  if  we  shall  not  find  farther 
on  a  street  named  ''Week  after  Next." 

We  stop  at  the  market.  It  is  in  a  hollow  square  sur- 
rounded by  rose-colored,  one-story  buildings  containing 
meat  stalls.  The  red  beef  and  mutton  hang  from  hooks 
under  white  awnings.     There  are  no  scales.     Those  women 


THE  BREAD  LANDS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA         217 

with  the  black  shawls  around  their  heads  who  are  buying 
pay  for  the  meat  by  the  chunk.  The  court  is  filled  with 
carts  which  have  come  in  from  the  farms.  On  the  ground 
sit  dark-faced  women  with  vegetables  about  them,  which 
they  sell  by  the  pile. 

What  is  that  squealing  outside  the  market?  It  sounds 
like  a  pig  in  the  hands  of  a  butcher.  They  surely  cannot, 
kill  hogs  here  in  the  midst  of  the  city.  It  is  only  the  creak- 
ing of  a  farm  cart  which  is  bringing  in  wheat.  There  it 
comes  through  the  door.  It  has  wheels  eight  feet  in  height, 
hubs  as  big  around  as  your  waist,  and  an  axle  as  thick  as  a 
telegraph  pole. 

But  let  us  leave  Cordoba  and  ride  on  the  railroad  into  the 
wheat  lands.  We  reach  them  within  a  few  hours.  The 
best  wheat  region  of  Argentina  lies  in  the  Parana  basin 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  both  banks  of  the  river,  for  the 
soil  which  it  has  brought  down  from  the  uplands  is  exceed- 
ingly rich.  The  wheat  lands  are  so  large  that  if  they  could 
be  put  into  one  block  they  would  cover  an  area  five  times 
that  of  New  York,  or  six  times  that  of  Ohio.  This  tract 
in  good  seasons  produces  far  more  wheat  than  the  people 
can  use,  the  wheat  exports  often  competing  with  our  wheat 
in  the  markets  of  Europe.  Indeed,  our  farmers  might  have 
to  stop  exporting  wheat,  did  not  Argentina  have  many 
droughts  when  the  wheat  will  not  grow,  and  in  wet  seasons 
occasional  invasions  of  locusts,  or  short-horned  grasshoppers, 
which  eat  the  crops. 

The  locusts  are  not  like  any  we  have  in  our  country. 
They  come  down  in  swarms  of  millions  from  the  warm  lands 
of  southern  Brazil.  There  are  so  many  of  them  at  times 
that  they  shut  out  the  sun  like  a  storm  cloud.  They  alight 
on  everything  green  and  consume  all  as  they  go.  They 
eat  the  leaves  of  the  trees  and  also  the  fruit.     They  are 


2l8 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


especially  fond  of  green  wheat.     A  swarm  of  locusts  will 
chew  up  a  wheat  field  in  a  night,  and  when  they  come  in 

vast  numbers,  as 
they  sometimes  do 
year  after  year,  the 
farmers  are  ruined. 
The  locusts  lay  their 
eggs  in  holes  in  the 
ground,  and  when 
these  eggs  hatch 
there  are  thousands 
more.  The  people 
never  know  when 
they  are  coming,  and 
plant  on  and  on, 
hoping  to  be  able 
to  harvest  their 
crops.  We  pity  the 
people  as  we  watch 
them  at  work. 

It  is  now  spring, 
and  they  are  plow- 
ing the  fields.  We 
ride  for  hours 
through  vast  tracts 
of  brown  soil,  upon 
which  dark-faced 
men  are  guiding 
their  oxen  this  way 
and  that  through 
the  furrows.  Here 
one  is  sowing  the  seed,  scattering  it  by  hand,  and  in  the 
next  field  oxen  are  dragging  harrows  and  brush  over  the  clods 


Argentine  locusts.     "  Each  lays  from  tifty 
to  one  hundred  eggs." 


THE  BREAD   LANDS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA        219 

to  cover  the  grain.     A  little  later  we  pass  through  a  great 
estate  where  farm  tractors  are  used. 

Now  we  are  passing  farms  where  the  wheat  has  been  sown 
for  some  time.  As  far  as  we  can  see  there  is  nothing  but 
the  emerald  green  of  the  fresh  sprouting  grain.  A  little 
later,  as  harvest  time  comes,  this  vast  sea  of  emerald  will 
change  to  billows  of  gold.     There  will  be  wheat  on  all  sides. 


Hauline  wool  to  the  station. 


and  the  yellow  waves  will  roll  on  and  on.  until  at  last  they 
lose  themselves  in  the  blue  sky. 

Then  there  will  l^e  reapers  and  mowers  moving  over  the 
fields,  some  drawn  by  horses  or  oxen  and  others  by  tractors, 
cutting  the  grain.  There  will  be  steam  threshers  puffing 
away  as  they  shell  out  the  wheat,  and  there  will  be  huge  ox 
carts  like  those  we  saw  in  Cordoba,  with  teams  of  eight  or 
twelve  oxen,  and  now  and  then  a  motor-truck,  hauling 
the  great  loads  of  bags  to  the  train. 

Were  we  here  at  that  time  we  might  lind  it  very  slow 


220  SOUTH  AMERICA 

traveling.  There  is  so  much  wheat  that  all  the  freight  cars 
of  the  country  are  needed  to  carry  it  to  Rosario  (ro-sa're-o), 
the  chief  wheat  port  of  the  Parana  River,  and  to  Buenos 
Aires  or  Bahia  Blanca  for  shipment  to  Europe.  The  tracks 
are  so  crowded  with  wheat  that  the  passenger  trains  are 
sometimes  kept  back  to  let  the  freight  cars  go  by.  At  that 
time  there  are  stacks  of  bags  at  the  stations  awaiting  ship- 
ment, many  of  them  being  covered  with  canvas  to  protect 
the  wheat  from  the  rain. 

Why  do  not  the  farmers  store  the  wheat  as  we  do  ?  We 
can  easily  tell  as  we  ride  on  through  the  fields.  There  are 
no  barns  anywhere !  Lumber  is  costly,  for  most  of  the 
building  materials  come  from  our  country  or  Europe.  No 
feed  is  stored,  and  even  the  working  horses  and  oxen  are 
often  turned  out  to  graze.  The  chief  farm  buildings  are 
the  Httle  mud  huts  thatched  with  straw  in  which  the  men 
live.  The  result  is  tha-t  the  grain  is  sold  as  soon  as  it  is 
threshed,  and  the  farmer  must  take  what  he  can  get.  Re- 
cently, elevators  have  been  constructed  at  the  chief  ports, 
and  in  time  they  will  be  found  everywhere. 

Most  of  the  grain  is  shipped  to  Europe  soon  after  harvest. 
This  is  in  January  and  February,  which  is  summer  here 
south  of  the  equator,  although  it  is  midwinter  at  home. 
There  is  so  much  wheat,  however,  that  some  is  exported 
all  the  year  round.  The  chief  grain  exporting  ports  are 
Bahia  Blanca,  Buenos  Aires,  and  Rosario.  We  can  see 
one  way  in  which  it  is  handled  by  watching  the  loading  of 
steamers  at  Rosario. 

Rosario  is  situated  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Parana  River 
about  three  hundred  miles  by  water  from  Buenos  Aires. 
It  is  about  the  same  size  as  Kansas  City.  The  river  is  so 
deep  here  that  ocean  steamers  can  pass  through  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata  and  the  Parana  up  to  it.     The  city  is  built  upon  a 


THE  BREAD  LANDS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA         221 

bluff  so  high  that  it  is  above  the  masts  of  the  steamers  on 
the  river  below.  All  along  the  river,  a  Httle  back  from  the 
edge  of  the  bluff,  warehouses  of  gray  galvanized  iron  have 
been  constructed.  In  these  the  wheat  is  stored  as  it  is 
brought  from  the  fields.     In  front  of  each  warehouse  there  is 


Beef  carcasses  being  fro;;cn  for  shipment  to  Europe  and  the  United 

Slates. 

a  long  chute  or  trough,  made  of  wood  or  iron,  extending  down 
to  the  water.  These  troughs  are  in  sections  so  that  they 
can  be  shortened  or  lengthened  at  will.  When  connected 
they  make  a  continuous  chute,  running  from  the  bluff  into 
the  hold  of  the  steamer.  The  bags  of  wheat  are  carried 
from  the  warehouses  and  thrown  into  the  chute.     They 


222  SOUTH  AMERICA 

bounce  up  and  down  as  they  slide  into  the  steamer,  making 
us  think  of  an  army  of  gigantic  yellow  mice  galloping  into 
the  hold.  At  some  places  the  railroad  tracks  run  so  close 
to  the  bluff  that  the  wheat  bags  can  be  taken  from  the  cars 
directly  to  the  chutes. 

In  good  years  there  is  grown  in  all  the  countries  of  the 
globe  almost  four  billion  bushels  of  wheat,  of  which  thef' 
Argentine  repubUc  produces  about  one  twenty-fifth.  The 
other  great  wheat  countries  are  the  United  States,  Russia, 
France,  India,  Canada,  Italy,  and  AustraUa.  Of  the  con- 
tinents, Europe  produces  by  far  the  most,  North  America 
coming  next  with  about  one  half  as  much.  Most  of  the 
wheat  of  South  America  is  grown  in  Argentina,  the  remain- 
der coming  from  Chile  and  Uruguay. 

A  great  deal  of  corn  is  now  being  planted,  especially  in 
the  region  between  the  Uruguay  and  Parana  rivers.  The 
land  is  rich  and  the  climate  well  suited  to  the  crop.  In- 
deed, the  day  may  come  when  Argentina  will  have  its 
corn  belt,  and  its  people  will  raise  pigs  and  export  pork  as 
they  now  export  beef. 

Another  important  crop  of  Argentina  is  flax,  the  plant 
from  whose  libers  linen  is  made.  From  flaxseed  comes  the 
linseed  oil  used  to  mix  with  paint,  and  the  oil  cake  used  for 
stock  feed.  The  four  great  flax  regions  are  Russia,  India, 
Argentina,  and  central  North  America.  Russia  produces 
most  of  the  flax  used  for  its  fibers,  while  that  of  x\rgentina 
and  our  country  is  raised  chiefly  for  the  seeds.  One  reason 
for  this  is  that  in  Argentina  and  the  United  States  labor 
costs  a  great  deal,  and  much  work  is  needed  to  separate  the 
fibers  for  linen.  Argentina  raises  more  flax  seed  than  any 
other  country  of  the  world.  Its  best  flax  fields  are  in  Entre 
Rios  (en'tra  re'os),  the  province  lying  between  the  Uruguay 
and  Paraguay  rivers. 


BUENOS  AIRES  223 

XXIX.     BUENOS   AIRES 

IT  is  a  night's  ride  by  train  from  Rosario  to  Buenos  Aires. 
We  go  to  bed  in  the  sleeper  as  the  cars  move  out  of  the 
station,  and  when  we  awake  we  are  in  the  capital  of 
Argentina.  We  step  into  a  railroad  station  almost  as  large 
as  our  best  stations  at  home,  and  walk  under  a  long,  glass- 
covered  roof  to  the  front  door.  How  many  taxicabs  there 
are,  and  how  their  drivers  yell  at  us  as  we  come  down  the 
steps !  We  choose  one  and  are  soon  dashing  through  one 
long  street  after  another,  almost  skidding  as  we  round 
corner  after  corner,  until  we  reach  our  hotel. 

We  soon  see  that  Buenos  Aires  is  a  large  city,  and  its 
size  grows  upon  us  as  we  ride  through  it  day  after  day.  It 
is  the  largest  city  on  the  South  American  continent,  and 
there  are  but  few  in  North  America  surpassing  it  in  size. 
It  is  now  nearly  as  large  as  Philadelphia,  and  is  growing 
rapidly.  It  is  the  chief  city  of  the  Parana  basin,  and  is 
like  Chicago  in  that  it  is  the  commercial  and  exporting 
center  of  its  vast  bread  lands  and  pastures. 

Buenos  Aires  is  situated  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  about 
one  hundred  miles  from  the  sea,  at  just  the  point  where 
the  great  steamers  from  the  United  States  and  Europe 
can  most  easily  land  their  goods,  and  from  where  the  wool, 
hides,  meats,  and  other  products  can  be  loaded  to  go  across 
the  ocean.  It  is  about  six  thousand  miles  from  New  York 
by  sea  and  the  ships  make  the  voyage  in  three  or  four  weeks. 
The  trip  may  be  made  in  less  time  by  going  to  \'alparaiso 
by  rail,  a  distance  of  888  miles,  and  then  going  north  \-ia 
the  Panama  Canal. 

The  port  of  Buenos  Aires  is  the  largest  in  all  South 
America,  and  its  harbor  is  lined  with  magnificent  docks 
equipped  with  loading  machinery  run  by  electricity.     Near 


224 


BUENOS   AIRES  225 

by  are  huge  grain  elevators  and  flour  mills,  one  of  which 
cost  fifteen  million  dollars. 

It  is  in  Buenos  Aires  that  the  most  of  the  business  of 
Argentina  is  done.  It  is  the  capital,  and  it  has  also  the 
chief  'factories  that  supply  the  country  with  goods.  It 
ships  most  of  the  wool  and  other  exports,  and  has  one  of 
the  largest  produce  markets  in  the  world. 

The  richest  people  of  Argentina  Hve  in  Buenos  Aires. 
They  have  magnificent  homes,  going  only  now  and  then  to 
their  vast  estates  in  tlie  country.  Here  also  are  the  busi- 
ness houses  of  the  great  merchants,  the  chief  colleges,  the 
great  daily  newspapers,  the  finest  churches,  and  nearly 
everything  which  is  of  importance  to  the  repubHc,  except 
the  resources  from  which  its  wealth  is  derived. 

But  to  what  races  do  the  people  of  this  great  city  belong  ? 
As  we  hear  them  talk  we  think  them  all  Spanish.  There 
are  Spanish  signs  over  the  stores,  and  many  speak  nothing 
else.  Buenos  Aires  is  by  far  the  largest  Spanish-speaking 
city  of  the  world ;  it  is  more  than  three  times  the  si^e  of 
Madrid,  the  largest  city  of  Spain.  Still,  the  most  of  its 
people  are  foreigners.  Not  more  than  one  fifth  of  them 
were  born  in  the  country.  There  are  more  ItaHans  than 
native  Argentines  in  Buenos  Aires,  and  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand  of  its  citizens  have  come  here  from  Spain. 

Those  masons  who  are  building  that  house  over  the  way 
are  Italians.  The  Italians  are  the  mechanics  of  the  city, 
and  we  shall  find  them  also  peddling  onions,  fish,  and  all 
kinds  of  goods  from  house  to  house.  They  are  the  news- 
boys and  also  the  bootblacks.  They  own  the  grocery  stores, 
and  there  are  rich  Italian  bankers  and  traders.  There 
are  many  large  banks  managed  by  the  EngUsh,  and  some 
of  the  biggest  stores  are  owned  by  the  Germans.  There 
are  comparatively  few  people  who  have  come  from  the 


2  26  SOUTH  AMERICA 

United  States,  although  we  have  some  large  importing 
houses  and  several  banks. 

But  let  us  go  farther  into  the  business  section.  Here  we 
are  in  the  Plaza  de  Mayo  (pla'za  da  ma'yo).  What  a 
beautiful  park,  and  how  large  are  the  houses  about  it ! 
That  great  structure  on  one  side  of  the  square  is  the  ca- 
thedral. There  is  a  crowd  of  women  in  black  gowns,  with 
shawls  over  their  heads,  going  to  mass.  The  cathedral 
covers  more  than  an  acre  of  ground  and  will  hold,  it  is  said, 
nine  thousand  people.  It  is  the  chief  church  of  the  city, 
for  Argentina  is  a  Roman  Catholic  country,  and  Buenos 
Aires  is  said  to  be  the  largest  Catholic  city  of  the  world. 
Catholicism  is  the  religion  of  the  state,  and  it  is  here  that 
the  president  attends  mass. 

That  building  just  above  the  cathedral  contains  the  courts 
of  the  city,  and  on  the  opposite  side  is  the  rose-colored 
government  house,  where  the  president  of  Argentina  has 
his  ofhces  and  where  most  of  the  government  business  is 
done.  Our  president  lives  in  the  White  House.  The  name 
of  this  president's  palace  is  the  Casa  Rosada,  which  means 
the  Red  House.  Argentina  has  a  congress  just  as  we  have, 
and  its  people  are  supposed  to  choose  their  own  officers 
much  as  we  do.  We  visit  the  national  capitol  where  con- 
gress meets.  It  is  one  of  the  fine  buildings  of  the  world  and 
faces  a  beautiful  park. 

But  let  us  go  out  to  Barraccas.  "Barraccas"  means 
warehouses,  and  this  is  the  name  of  that  part  of  the  city 
where  most  of  the  wool,  wheat,  and  meat  are  prepared  for 
shipment  abroad.  We  stand  on  the  corner  and  wait  for 
the  car.  We  hear  a  horn  blown  in  the  distance.  The 
sound  of  it  grows  louder  and  louder,  and  we  soon  see  that 
one  end  of  the  horn  is  in  the  mouth  of  the  motorman,  and 
that  he  gives  a  warning  blast  at  every  street  corner. 


BUENOS  AIRES 


227 


As  the  car  stops  we  climb  in.  We  are  carried  through 
narrow  streets  for  more  than  two  miles,  when  we  reach  an 
enormous  brick  structure  on  the  banks  of  the  Riachuelo 
(re-a-chwa'lo)  River,  which  flows  into  the  Rio  de  la  Plata 
here.     The  buiklino;  is  that  of  the  Mercado  Central  dos 


The  Casa  Rosada,  or  "Red  House,"  where  the  presidcnl  of  Argen- 
tina lives. 


Frutos,  the  largest  wholesale  produce  market  under  one  roof 
in  the  world.  It  covers  thirty  acres,  and  in  it  millions  of 
pounds  of  wool  are  handled  each  year.  It  is  so  built  that  the 
cars  can  come  into  the  market  and  the  wool  and  wheat  can  be 
unloaded  right  upon  the  floors.  Shiploads  of  wool  sail  up 
to  its  door,  cars  come  in  on  the  railways,  and  trucks,  carts, 
and  wagons  loaded  with  wool  and  grain  are  dri\'en  in  from 
all  parts  of  the  country.  We  go  through  one  immense  room 
after  another.  Some  are  filled  with  wool,  and  in  others 
there  are  so  many  bags  of  wheat  and  corn  that  we  have  not 
time  to  count  them. 


228  SOUTH  AMERICA 

From  the  Mercado  Central  .dos  Frutos  we  visit  the  great 
frigerificos  where  thousands  of  cattle  are  killed  daily  and 
their  carcasses  chilled  or  frozen  for  shipment  to  Europe  and 
the  United  States.  We  have  to  wear  overcoats  when  we 
enter  the  freezing  rooms.  They  are  intensely  cold,  and 
the  walls  and  ceiling  are  covered  with  frost,  produced  by 
liquid  ammonia  expanding  in  pipes  throughout  the  room. 
The  dressed  beef  is  beautiful  in  its  red  and  white  colors, 
and  when  we  tap  it  we  find  it  as  hard  as  stone.  It  will  re- 
main in  this  condition  until  it  is  ready  for  sale  in  the  market 
houses  of  our  country  and  Europe.  This  keeps  the  meat 
fresh,  and  when  sold  it  looks  and  tastes  Hke  fresh  beef. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  hotel  we  call  at  one  of  the  big 
city  markets  and  see  that  the  food  which  the  Argentines  eat 
is  quite  as  good  as  our  own.  They  have  all  sorts  of  meats, 
fish,  and  vegetables.  There  are  huge  pears  from  near 
Buenos  Aires,  and  oranges  and  pineapples  which  have 
come  on  the  steamer  from  Paraguay.  There  are  grapes 
from  the  foothills  of  the  Andes,  and  peaches  by  the  bushel 
from  the  islands  of  the  Parana  River.  Peach  trees  grow 
so  rapidly  in  this  part  of  the  world  that  they  are  often 
planted  for  fuel.  In  some  places  peaches  are  so  plentiful 
that  they  are  thrown  to  the  pigs. 

We  meet  many  chicken  peddlers  on  leaving  the  market. 
They  are  starting  out  with  Uve  chickens  which  they  will 
sell  from  house  to  house  throughout  the  city.  The  chickens 
are  in  wicker  crates  hung  over  the  back  of  a  horse.  We  see 
other  peddlers  on  horseback  or  on  foot.  Now  and  then  we 
pass  a  man  driving  a  flock  of  turkeys  before  him.  You  can 
point  out  the  one  you  want  and  he  will  catch  it  and  sell 
it  to  you. 

Have  you  ever  eaten  young  armadillo?  It  tastes  like 
spring  chicken,  and  these  people  are  so  fond  of  it  that  they 


BUENOS  AIRES 


229 


eat  thousands  of  armadillos  each  month.  The  armadillo 
is  a  little  four-legged  animal  with  a  shell  like  a  turtle  and  a 
head  like  a  pig.  It  burrows  into  the  earth  and  seldom  goes 
out  of  its  hole  except  at  night.  When  attacked  it  rolls  itself 
into  a  ball  and  is  protected  by  the  horny  plates  of  its  shell. 
It  eats  fruit  and  roots  and  small  insects.  Its  flesh  is  white 
and  quite  tender ;  we  taste  it  at  one  of  the  restaurants  and 
find  it  delicious. 


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Armidillo. 


But  it  is  now  five  o'clock  and  we  must  go  for  a  walk  on ' 
the  Calle  Florida.  This  is  the  most  fashionable  shopping 
section,  and  its  scenes  at  this  time  of  the  day  are  as  gay  as 
those  of  any  part  of  the  world.  The  street  is  only  about 
thirty-five  feet  wide  and  about  a  mile  long,  but  its  fine  shops 
make  one  think  of  a  museum  of  rich  goods  and  a  treasure 
yault  of  costly  jewels.  The  roadway  is  paved  with  cement, 
and  the  sidewalks  are  tiled  Hke  the  floor  of  a  bathroom.  The 
street  is  so  narrow  that  the  police  shut  out  all  wheeled 


230  SOUTH  AMERICA 

trajQ&c  from  five  until  eight  in  the  afternoon,  at  which  time 
most  of  the  shopping  is  done.  During  these  hours  there 
are  no  carriages  or  automobiles  to  be  seen,  and  a  boy  on  a 
motorcycle  would  surely  be  arrested.  The  people  we 
meet  are  well  dressed,  and  we  hear  French,  German,  Eng- 
lish, Italian,  and  Spanish  spoken  by  different  parties  as  we 
pass  along. 

We  see  many  fine  turnouts  on  Thursday  afternoon,  when 
we  take  a  drive  by  the  magnificent  residences  along  the 
Avenue  Alvear  to  Palermo  Park.  This  park  is  perhaps  the 
finest  in  all  South  America.  It  covers  many  acres,  and  in 
it  are  long  avenues  of  magnificent  palms,  forest  trees  of  all 
kinds,  running  streams  and  winding  lakes.  During  the 
afternoons  of  Sunday  and  Thursday  it  is  filled  with  people. 
There  are  hundreds  of  automobiles  moving  along  and  thou- 
sands of  foot  passengers  walking  under  the  palms.  There 
are  gayly  dressed  children  playing  upon  the  grass,  and  boys 
rowing  about  in  boats  on  the  lakes. 

We  see  the  children  enjoying  themselves  in  other  ways 
during  a  short  trip  we  make  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Mar  del 
Plata,  the  favorite  seaside  resort.  Here  they  dig  in  the  sand 
and  go  swimming  in  the  ocean  just  as  we  do  at  home. 

1.  What  important  grains  are  raised  in  Argentina?  Compare 
its  wheat  farms  with  those  of  the  United  States. 

2.  What  three  countries  produce  more  wheat  than  Argentina? 
(See  Table  X.)  What  countries  produce  most  per  acre?  What 
great  pest  occasionally  afflicts  the  Argentine  farmers?  Of  what 
plague  in  Egypt  described  in  the  Bible  does  it  remind  you? 

3.  Name  the  chief  grain  ports. 

4.  Locate  Tucuman.     Describe  some  of  its  products. 

5.  Describe  Cordoba  and  Rosario.     For  what  is  Mendoza  noted? 

6.  Where  are  the  best  flax  fields?  For  what  is  the  product  used? 
What  other  very  important  things  do  we  get  from  the  flax  plant? 
(See  Carpenter's  "How  the  World  is  Clothed,"  pages  50-55.) 


BUENOS  AIRES 


231 


7.  Make  a  tour  of  Buenos  Aires  and  describe  it.  Compare  it 
with  Chicago.  How  far  is  it  from  New  York  via  Valparaiso? 
Direct? 

8.  Visit  a  large  meat-packing  establishment  and  tell  what  you  see. 
Where  are  our  chief  meat-packing  centers?  Trace  a  cargo  of  beef 
from  Buenos  Aires  to  Liverpool ;  to  New  York.  How  far  does  each 
shipment  travel? 

9.  What  do  we  find  in  the  wool  market?  How  does  Argentina 
rank  among  the  sheep-raising  countries?  Name  its  chief  com- 
petitors.    Name  a  strange  meat  of  Argentina. 


Children  playing  in  the  sand  at  Mar  del  Plata,  the  fa\oriti. 
seaside  resort. 


232 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


XXX.     URUGUAY  —  MONTEVIDEO 


WE  shall  begin  our  journeys  in  a  new  country  this 
morning.  We  leave  Buenos  Aires  on  a  river 
steamer  for  Montevideo  and  seven  hours  later  are  casting 
anchor  in    a   fine   harbor   on   the    Rio   de  la  Plata  only 

ninety  miles  away. 
The  day  is  just 
dawning,  and  the 
lights  on  the  shore 
shine  out  through 
the  mist,  marking 
the  shape  of  the  city 
and  harbor. 

The  Bay  of  Monte- 
video is  Hke  a  horse- 
shoe; it  is  six  miles 
in  length  and  so 
large  that  hundreds 
of  vessels  could  be 
anchored  in  it  at 
one  time.  Of  late  years,  however,  the  earth  washings 
brought  down  from  the  highlands,  through  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata,  have  so  filled  the  bay  that  extensive  harbor 
improvements  have  been  made  to  allow  large  vessels  to 
come  near  the  shore. 

But  let  us  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Uruguay  before  we 
begin  to  explore  it.  It  is  the  smallest  of  the  South  American 
repubHcs,  and  there  are  single  states  in  Argentina  which 
surpass  it  in  size.  Uruguay  could  easily  be  lost  in  Brazil, 
for  it  is  only  about  as  large  as  Missouri. 

We  can  see  something  of  its  shape  on  the  map,  but  if  we 
could  fly  over  it  in  an  airplane,  or  perhaps  on  the  winged 


Aires 

<: 


'ct,      °«tevideo 


URUGUAY—  MONTEVIDEO 


2,^^ 


We  leave  Buenos  Aires  on  a  river  steamer  for  Montevideo.     These 

boats   are   much   like    those    which    ply  between   New   York   and 

Boston.     One  leaves  each  city  every  night. 

horse  Pegasus,  we  should  see  that  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  low  mountain  ranges  it  is  a  waving  sheet  of  billowy 
green,  with  so  many  streams  of  silvery  water  flowing  through 
it  that  they  form  a  network  like  the  veins  of  a  leaf.  We 
should  see  that  it  has  rich  soil  and  that  cattle  and  sheep  are 
scattered  over  it  in  quite  as  large  flocks  as  those  of  Argen- 
tina. The  country  is  level  or  rolling  and  has  hardly  any 
waste  land.     The  climate  is  delightful. 

If  we  flew  slowly  we  might  observe  that  the  houses  of  the 
farmers  are  like  the  mud  huts  of  the  Argentine  pampas  and 
that  the  aspects  of  nature  are  about  the  same. 


234 


URUGUAY  —  MONTEVIDEO  235 

In  such  a  flight  we  should  notice  the  long  coast  line  of 
the  country,  the  great  steamboats  sailing  up  the  Uruguay 
River,  and  the  smaller  boats  on  other  streams  in  the  interior. 
We  should  see  but  few  large  towns,  and  should  notice  that 
all  the  railroad  trains,  steamboats,  and  carts  are  moxing  to 
and  from  the  capital  city  of  Monte\'ideo,  which  we  are  about 
to  explore. 

We  take  a  boat  and  ride  to  the  wharves,  observing  the^ 
Cerro  or  hill  at  the  left  from  which  the  city  was  named. 
Montevideo  means  "I  see  the  mountain."  The  mountain 
in  this  case  is  not  higher  than  the  Washington  monument, 
but  the  land  is  so  flat  all  about  that  the  hill  can  be  seen  far 
out  at  sea.  There  is  a  white  tower  upon  it,  and  at  night  the 
revolving  light  in  it  is  visible  twenty-five  miles  from  land. 

But  here  we  are  at  the  wharves.  We  step  out  and  take 
a  look  at  the  harbor,  which  has  been  improved  at  a  cost  of 
tens  of  millions  of  dollars.  There  are  many  ships  from 
Europe  and  the  United  States  at  anchor  within  it,  and  we 
learn  that  it  is  a  port  of  call  for  all  the  steamship  lines  that 
come  to  this  part  of  South  America.  There  are  also  steamers 
that  transport  goods  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  system  and  boats 
that  leave  every  night  for  Buenos  Aires. 

We  ask  as  to  the  trade  and  are  told  that  the  chief  exports 
are  wool,  hides,  meat,  beef  extracts,  and  live  stock,  and  that 
the  imports  are  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  iron  and  steel, 
coal  and  machinery. 

Leaving  the  port  we  wend  our  way  through  the  citv. 
The  buildings  are  large,  the  streets  wide,  and  there  are  many 
parks  filled  with  tropical  plants  and  beautiful  flowers. 
There  are  automobiles,  motorcycles,  and  many  electric 
car  lines. 

How  clean  the  streets  are  !  They  are  kept  so  by  the  long 
tongue  of  rock  upon   which   Monte\ddeo   is   built.     The 


236  SOUTH  AMERICA 

rock  extends  from  the  Cerro  or  hill  out  into  the  bay.  It 
slopes  on  all  sides  so  that  the  streets  run  up  hill  and  down 
and  every  rain  washes  them  clean.  Montevideo  is  a  very 
healthful  city;  fewer  people  die  in  it,  in  proportion  to  its 
size,  than  in  any  other  city  of  the  world. 

We  step  aside  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  motor-trucks 
and  carts.  The  carts  are  each  drawn  by  two  or  three  mules 
harnessed  abreast.  Each  has  a  bed  made  of  poles  with 
sides  of  poles  curved  upward  and  tied  together  with  thongs. 
The  wheels  are  enormous  and  make  a  great  din  as  they  rattle 
over  the  cobblestone  streets.  There  are  other  carts  coming 
up  this  side  street.  Is  it  not  strange  that  they  do  not  use 
wagons?  No,  not  when  you  learn  that  all  vehicles  in 
Montevideo  are  taxed  by  the  number  of  wheels,  and  that 
a  four-wheeled  wagon  would  have  to  pay  twice  as  much  as 
a  cart. 

Montevideo  has  a  good  street-car  system  and  we  can  go 
anywhere  upon  it.  We  ride  in  the  cars  by  two-story  and 
three-story  houses,  now  passing  great  plazas  or  squares  filled 
with  trees.  We  go  out  into  the  country  through  the  wide 
boulevard  of  General  Artigas,  which  is  lined  with  beautiful 
gardens  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  visit  Urbano  Park 
and  the  Rambla  de  los  Pocetas  (po-sa'tas).  The  latter  is 
the  chief  seaside  resort  of  Uruguay,  and  people  come  here 
from  Argentina  and  Paraguay  to  enjoy  the  fine  bathing. 
There  are  large  hotels  right  on  the  sea,  and  near  them  are 
many  boxes  on  wheels  in  which  the  people  put  on  their  bath- 
ing clothes.  The  bathhouses  are  then  drawn  by  mules 
to  the  edge  of  the  water.  We  each  select  one  of  these  bath- 
houses and  are  soon  far  out  in  the  surf  enjoying  the  salty 
billows  as  they  roll  up  on  the  shore. 

Coming  back  to  our  hotel,  we  take  automobiles  and  ex- 
plore the  city.     It  is  about  as  large  as  New  Orleans  and  it 


URUGUAY  —  MONTEVIDEO 


237 


has  all  modern  city  improvements.  The  streets  are  wide, 
straight,  and  well  paved,  the  princijial  street  running  along 
the  top  of  a  ridge  and  ending  in  the  Plaza  (le  la  Indepen- 
dencia.  We  visit  the  Solis  Theater,  one  of  the  largest  in 
South  America,  and  the  fine  new  national  capitol  where 
congress  meets.     We  are  shown  through  tlie  cathedral  and 


The  bathhouses  are  drawn  to  and  from  the  beach  by  imiles.      Vhc 
'  author  stands  at  the  right. 


then  go  to  the  public  Hbrary  and  some  of  "the  educational 
institutions. 

Montevideo  has  a  great  university.  It  has  asylums  and 
hospitals,  medical  schools  and  laboratories,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  most  advanced  of  all  cities  as  to  health  matters. 
There  are  common  schools  almost  everywhere  and  education 
is  compulsory.  The  city  has  free  lunches  for  school  children, 
and  the  school  girls  are  taught  how  to  cook  and  sew  while 


^38 


URUGUAY  —  MONTEVIDEO  239 

the  boys  learn  manual  training.  In  some  of  the  coun- 
try schools  the  children  study  out  loud,  and  in  our  motor 
rides  we  may  hear  the  din  of  a  school  before  we  come 
to  it. 

Montevideo  has  many  rich  people  who  have  large  estates 
in  the  country.  They  live  upon  their  farms  in  summer 
and  spend  their  winters  at  the  capital  city.  During  our 
stay  we  visit  some  of  these  well-to-do  families.  Their 
houses  are  grand,  the  floors  are  of  marble,  and  the  ceilings 
are  often  upheld  by  marble  columns  imported  from  Italy. 
We  find  the  rooms  cold.  The  people  believe  artificial 
heat  is  unhealthful  and  so  they  have  no  stoves,  furnaces,  or 
steam-heating  plants.  The  result  is  that  in  the  winter  the 
women  often  receive  callers  in  their  furs  with  their  feet  on 
hot-water  bottles,  and  the  men  sometimes  wear  their  over- 
coats at  dinner. 

From  Montevideo  we  take  some  trips  out  through  the 
country.  We  cross  to  the  boundary  of  Brazil  by  railway, 
and  on  the  way  back  visit  other  places  by  motor-car.  We 
travel  some  time  on  the  Uruguay  River,  visiting  the  ports 
of  Salto  (sal'td)  and  Paysandu  (pi-san-doo') ,  and  stopping 
at  Fray  Ben tos  (fri  ben'tos),  where  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  cattle  are  yearly  killed  for  meat  extract.  The  lean 
meat  is  stewed  in  warm  water,  being  skimmed  again  and 
again  of  the  fat.  After  a  long  time  the  stew  thickens  into 
a  liquid  much  Kke  thin  molasses.  It  is  then  put  into  tin 
boxes  and  sent  to  Europe,  where  it  is  repacked  in  porcelain 
jars  and  shipped  all  over  the  world.  Many  of  us  have 
tasted  beef  tea  made  from  this  Uruguay  extract.  It  is 
found  in  our  drug  stores  and  is  often  prescribed  for  sick 
people. 

Not  far  from  Fray  Bentos  are  the  factories  in  which 
jerked  beef  is  made.     Such  meat  is  much  liked  by  the  South 


240  SOUTH  AMERICA 

American  people.  It  is  taken  by  the  shipload  from  Uruguay 
to  Brazil  and  the  West  Indies.  The  animals  are  killed  and 
the  meat  stripped  from  their  bodies  and  dried  in  the  sun 
in  such  a  way  that  it  will  not  spoil,  however  long  it  is  kept. 
Coming  back  to  Montevideo,  we  visit  the  huge  packing 
establishments  where  cattle  and  sheep  are  killed  and  dressed 
for  shipment  to  Europe.  The  scenes  are  much'  Hke  those 
we  saw  in  similar  places  in  Argentina.  The  cattle 
are  brought  in  on  the  cars  or  are  driven  on  foot  to  Toblado, 
an  open-air  market  held  in  the  fields  several  miles  from 
Montevideo.  Here  they  are  driven  about  by  the  gauchos 
or  cowboys,  while  the  buyers  select  such  herds  as  they  want 
and  shout  how  much  they  will  pay.  Thousands  of  animals 
are  sold  in  one  day,  and  at  the  time  of  our  visit  ten  thousand 
long-horned  cattle  are  bought  by  the  packers.  When  the 
sale  is  over  the  animals  are  weighed  and  driven  to  the  fri- 
gerificos,  where  they  are  speedily  killed.  Some  of  the  beef 
is  chilled  and  shipped  to  New  York,  but  most  of  the  product 
goes  to  Europe,  and  a  great  deal  to  England. 

1.  Bound  Uruguay.  What  did  you  see  in  traveling  by  airplane 
over  the  country? 

2.  What  does  "Montevideo"  mean? 

3.  Describe  the  city.  Tell  why  it  has  become  great.  How  far  is 
it  from  New  York  ?    At  1 5  miles  per  hour  how  long  is  the  voyage  ? 

4.  Mention  the  chief  products  of  Uruguay.     What  is  beef  extract  ? 

5.  What  are  the  chief  exports  of  Uruguay?     The  chief  imports? 

6.  If  a  ship  went  from  Galveston  to  Montevideo  and  came  back 
to  Boston,  what  would  be  the  probable  cargoes  of  each  voyage? 

7.  Compare  Uruguay  in  size  with  other  South  American  coun- 
tries ;  with  your  own  state. 

8.  Trace  a  cargo  of  chilled  beef  from  Montevideo  to  London ; 
to  New  York ;  to  Liverpool ;  by  two  routes  to  San  Francisco,  giv- 
ing the  length  of  each  route. 


UP  THE   RIO   DE   LA  PLATA  SYSTEM  241 

XXXI.     UP    THE    RIO    DE   LA    PLATA   SYSTEM 

WE  are  again  upon  shipboard  this  morning.  We  have 
left  Montevideo  and  are  steaming  through  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  upon  whose  two  great  tributaries,  the 
Parana  and  the  Paraguay,  we  shall  go  into  the  heart  of 
the  South  American  continent. 

What  a  big  stream  it  is !  At  Montevideo  we  could  hardly 
see  the  opposite  shore.  It  is  wide  all  the  way  to  Buenos 
Aires  and  even  to  the  junction  of  the  Uruguay  and  Parana 
rivers,  by  which  it  is  formed.  The  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  fact, 
is  more  like  a  muddy  fresh-water  bay  or  arm  of  the  sea  than 
a  river.  It  is  about  two  hundred  miles  long,  and  where  it 
unites  with  the  ocean  it  is  more  than  one  hundred  miles 
wide. 

The  water  of  the  river  looks  like  pea  soup.  We  hesitate 
to  get  into  our  bath,  and  when  we  let  off  the  water  a  thick 
coat  of  mud  remains  in  the  tub,  so  much  that  our  feet  leave 
marks  as  deep  as  those  which  frightened  Robinson  Crusoe 
on  the  shore  of  his  desert  island.  The  Rio  de  la  Plata  sys- 
tem brings  down  a  vast  amount  of  earth  washings  from  the 
mountains.  It  contains  so  much  silt  that  if  it  could  be  put 
upon  wagons,  twenty  thousand  horses  all  pulling  at  once  could 
not  haul  away  the  load  of  one  hour.  So  much  mud  drops 
to  the  bottom  that  the  river  is  fast  filling  up.  It  is  already 
difficult  for  the  big  ocean  steamers  to  reach  Buenos  Aires,  and 
the  people  are  now  talking  of  a  system  of  jetties  like  that 
of  the  Mississippi  to  deepen  the  channel. 

The  Rio  de  la  Plata  system  drains  a  basin  about  half  as 
large  as  the  whole  United  States.  If  we  could  \iew  the 
basin  from  above  we  should  see  that  it  is  of  the  shape  of  a 
horseshoe,  with  the  opening  toward  the  Atlantic.  The 
highlands  of  Brazil  and  the  Andes  form  the  rim  on  the  west, 


242  SOUTH  AMERICA 

north,  and  east,  while  a  low  divide  completes  it  on  the  south. 
Within  this  shoe  Ue  the  best  lands  of  Argentina,  the  whole 
of  Uruguay  and  Paraguay,  and  large  portions  of  Brazil 
and  BoUvia. 

In  climate  this  basin  is  similar  to  that  of  the  Mississippi 
basin  reversed.  The  northern  and  upper  part  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi basin  is  cold ;  the  northern  and  upper  part  of  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata  basin  is  warm.     Can  you  tell  why  ? 

The  greatest  tributaries  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  come  from 
the  hot  lands  of  Brazil  and  BoHvia  where  palms  and  rubber 
trees  grow,  and  its  mouth  Hes  in  the  cooler  countries  of 
wheat  fields  and  pastures  where  we  have  been  travehng 
lately.  Almost  everywhere  the  climate  is  healthful.  The 
northern  parts  have  weather  much  Uke  that  of  Louisiana 
or  Florida,  and  the  south  has  about  the  same  climate  as  that 
of  our  Middle  States.  Our  ship  stops  at  Buenos  Aires  for 
passengers  and  freight,  and  we  then  start  on  our  way  to  the 
great  Parana,  the  main  downspout  of  the  system. 

We  soon  pass  the  mouth  of  the  Uruguay  River,  and  just 
before  entering  the  Parana  sail  about  the  islands  of  Martin 
Gracia  (gra-se'a).  We  can  see  with  our  glasses  the  fort 
upon  its  shore.  There  are  boys  in  soldier  uniforms  march- 
ing about.  They  belong  to  the  Argentine  Naval  School 
which  has  been  established  there ;  the  men  drilling  are  sol- 
diers used  to  defend  the  fortifications. 

Martin  Gracia  is  called  the  "Gibraltar  of  Argentina," 
for  it  guards  the  chief  entrance  to  the  Parana  River.  It 
is  famous  in  history.  It  was  here  that  the  Spanish  explorers 
who  first  visited  Uruguay  stopped  for  a  time.  During  their 
stay  their  pilot,  Martin  Gracia,  died  and  they  gave  the  island 
his  name  as  a  monument.  As  we  sail  by  it  we  remember 
that  we,  too,  are  on  an  exploring  expedition.  We  are  enter- 
ing waters  which  were  discovered  by  the  white  man  who, 


UP  THE   RIO   DE   LA   PLATA   SYSTEM  243 

with  his  father  John,  was  the  first  to  set  foot  upon  the  soil 
of  the  North  American  continent.  This  was  Sebastian 
Cabot,  who,  only  thirty-four  years  after  Columbus  landed 
in  America,  came  here  and  entered  the  Parana  River.  He 
traveled  up  that  part  of  the  Parana  through  which  we 
shall  go,  and  from  it  went  into  the  Paraguay  River  over  the 
very  same  way  we  shall  sail. 

I  venture,  however,  that  Sebastian  Cabot,  if  he  could 
be  with  us  to-day,  would  think  our  boat,  although  only  a 
river  steamer,  more  wonderful  than  anything  he  saw  on  his 
tour.  His  ship  was  not  one  tenth  as  large.  It  was  a  small 
saihng  vessel  and  took  months  to  go  up  the  river.  He 
would  not  understand  how  we  could  move  without  sails. 
Steam  as  a  motive  power  was  not  then  discovered,  and  he 
would  not  know  how  we  could  make  the  great  paddle  wheels 
move  us  onward  so  fast  that  the  voyage  can  be  made  in  six 
days. 

Cabot's  ship  was  probably  Hghted  with  tallow.  How  he 
would  wonder  at  our  electric  globes  and  the  other  curious 
things  which  have  been  invented  since  then. 

He  would  be  surprised  when  he  sat  down  to  meals  and 
might  think  the  food  rather  good  for  explorers.  Here,  for 
instance,  is  our  bill  of  fare  for  one  dinner :  ox-tail  soup, 
Bologna  sausage  with  potato  salad,  boiled  beef,  fish  caught 
in  the  Parana  River,  curried  chicken  and  rice,  beefsteak 
and  potatoes,  cheese,  guava  jelly,  EngUsh  walnuts,  almonds 
and  raisins,  oranges,  and  coffee. 

Passing  Martin  Gracia,  we  sail  for  several  hundred  miles 
through  the  delta  of  the  Parana.  For  a  day's  ride  north 
of  its  mouth  the  river  is  about  twenty  miles  wide.  It  has 
many  channels  and  is  dotted  with  islands.  Some  are  cov- 
ered with  forests  of  peach  trees,  and  others  are  cultivated 
by  the  ItaHans,  who  raise  vegetables  for  Buenos  Aires. 


244  SOUTH  AMERICA 

All  the  islands  are  low  and  many  have  curious  houses 
upon  them.  We  are  passing  them  now.  They  look  like 
sheds.  They  are  raised  upon  piles,  the  first  floor  being 
reached  by  long  ladders.  This  is  in  order  that  the  people 
may  keep  out  of  the  way  of  the  floods,  for  the  winds  and 
the  tides  sometimes  roll  great  waves  in  from  the  ocean. 

After  travehng  up  the  stream  for  a  day  we  reach  Rosario, 
and  steam  on  by  ocean  ships  such  as  we  saw  from  the  bluff 
after  our  tour  of  the  wheat  fields.  They  are  still  loading 
wheat,  and  thousands  of  yellow  bags  are  bobbing  up  and 
down  as  they  glide  over  the  chutes.  There  are  flour  mills 
and  grain  elevators  at  Santa  Fe  and  other  towns  farther  up, 
and  much  of  the  shipping  of  the  Parana  River  is  devoted 
to  carrying  grain. 

As  we  go  on  we  are  more  and  more  deUghted.  The 
Parana  is  picturesque  although  the  lowest  parts  of  it  have 
no  grand  scenery.  It  is  wider  than  the  Mississippi  and  seems 
at  times  like  a  great  inland  sea,  the  shores  being  so  far  apart 
that  we  cannot  always  see  both  banks  at  once. 

This  is  largely  due  to  the  islands,  of  which  the  Parana 
has  so  many  that  they  have  never  been  counted.  In  our 
journey  we  are  always  sailing  in  and  out  among  them,  now 
coming  close  to  the  high  bluffs  of  the  mainland  and  now 
passing  through  narrow  channels,  so  near  the  shore  that  we  |^ 
can  almost  catch  hold  of  the  willows  and  feathery  grasses, '. 
which  hang  over  and  mirror  themselves  in  the  water. 

But  look,  some  of  the  grassy  islands  are  moving !  That 
great  mass  of  green  over  there  is  going  past  our  steamer  on 
its  way  down  the  river.  It  is  moving  almost  as  fast  as  our 
engine  is  pushing  us  up  the  stream.  See,  the  waves  from 
the  ship  are  making  the  island  move  up  and  down.  It  is 
a  sheet  of  billowy  green  rising  and  falling  with  every  wave. 
That  is  a  floating  island !     There  are  many  such  in  the 


UP  THE   RIO  DE  LA   PLATA   SYSTEM  245 

Parana  River.  They  are  masses  of  weeds,  flowers,  and 
turf  which  the  floods  have  torn  from  their  foundations  in 
the  highlands  and  are  carrying  down  to  the  sea.  Some  are 
so  firm  that  they  wifl  support  a  man ;  and  during  the  floods 
peccaries,  jaguars,  and  snakes  are  often  carried  upon  the 
islands  out  to  the  ocean. 

Now  we  have  left  the  middle  of  the  stream  and  are  pass- 
ing close  to  the  great  bluffs  of  the  mainland.  We  are  trying 
to  avoid  that  sand  bar  which  is  being  built  up  by  the  river. 
In  places  the  banks  are  torn  down,  and  all  about  us  are 
examples  of  the  great  part  the  waters  have  in  shaping  the 
earth. 

The  rivers  are  the  masons  of  the  gods,  and  as  we  look 
about  us  we  realize  what  a  master  workman  this  mighty 
Parana  is,  and  how  it  has  aided  in  building  up  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata  basin.  The  river  sweeping  past  us  faster  than  a 
man  can  walk  is  loaded  with  mud.  It  has  been  bringing 
down  mud  for  ages,  and  most  of  these  islands  have  been 
built  up  by  the  sediment  it  has  dropped. 

The  streams  of  the  Andes  are  now  gathering  dirt  for  this 
river,  and  its  waters  are  carrying  it  down  to  the  lowlands. 
That  island  of  a  hundred  acres  of  green  which  is  now  float- 
ing by  is  made  of  earth  washings  brought  down  from  the 
highlands.  Some  of  its  particles  were  torn  from  the  roots 
of  the  rubber  trees  in  Brazil,  some  have  come  from  coffee 
plantations  a  thousand  miles  farther  north,  and  some  were 
loosened,  perhaps,  by  the  Indians  we  saw  mining  gold  in 
the  wilds  of  the  Bolivian  Andes.  That  bluff  at  our  right 
is  one  hundred  feet  high.  See  how  its  strata  or  layers  of 
earth  are  piled  up  one  on  top  of  another  like  those  of  a  jelly 
cake.  Those  layers  have  been  deposited  there  during  the 
ages  by  running  water  and  as  we  steam  on  we  can  sec  the 
farms  of  the  future  rising  slowly  under  our  eyes. 


246 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


Palm  Grove  near  Corrientes. 


Notice  that  sand  bar.  Next  month  it  will  be  an  island. 
Next  year  it  will  be  covered  with  grass,  and  trees  will 
sprout  up. 

The  land  and  sky  seem  to  change  every  hour.  The 
sunsets  are  gorgeous,  painting  the  clouds  with  all  the  hues 
of  the  rainbow  and  making  a  golden  canopy  over  the 
dark-blue  Parana.  We  get  up  before  day  to  see  the  sun 
rise.  As  it  comes  up  its  rays  strike  the  dewdrops  upon  the 
feathery  grasses  of  the  islands  and  myriads  of  diamonds 
flash  from  the  emerald  fields.  At  night  both  heavens  and 
earth  are  clad  in  the  glorious  moonlight  of  the  semi-tropics. 

As  we  travel  on  toward  the  equator  we  see  many  more 
trees.  The  islands  are  covered  with  them,  the  grasses  are 
more  luxuriant,  and  here  and  there  are  bunches  of  bamboo. 


THE  GRAN  CHACO  247 

Now  and  then  there  is  a  palm  tree  shading  a  house  on  the 
mainland,  and  oranges  and  lemons  are  brought  to  thesteamer 
at  some  of  the  ports.  We  stop  at  many  small  towns  of 
one-story  buildings  with  thatched  huts  about  them.  The 
houses  are  roofed  with  red  tiles  and  there  is  always  a  church 
spire  rising  high  over  the  town. 

After  three  days  we  reach  the  city  of  Corrientes  (kor-re- 
gn'tes).  It  is  quite  a  large  place  for  this  part  of  the  world 
and  is  a  port  from  where  are  exported  sugar,  tobacco,  and 
cotton  as  well  as  sheep,  cattle,  and  horses.  Corrientes 
looks  very  imposing  in  its  position  on  the  high  east  ])ank  of 
the  Parana.  It  is  close  to  the  junction  of  the  Alto-Parana 
and  the  Paraguay  rivers,  and  at  its  landing  we  see  steamers 
starting  up  the  Alto-Parana,  upon  which  they  can  sail 
farther  on  to  the  northeast  for  hundreds  of  miles.  Our 
own  ship,  however,  is  on  its  way  to  Asuncion  (a-soon-syon') 
in  Paraguay,  and  as  that  is  the  country  we  are  next  to  ex- 
plore we  shall  leave  the  Parana  and  steam  up  the  Para- 
guay. 

XXXII.   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

DURING  our  ride  on  the  steamer  we  have  heard  much 
of  the  Gran  Chaco  (gran  cha'ko).  This  is  the  name 
given  to  a  large  territory  west  of  the  Parana  and  Paraguay 
rivers,  some  of  which  belongs  to  Argentina,  some  to 
Paraguay,  and  some  to  Bolivia.  It  extends  for  more  tlian 
five  hundred  miles  along  the  western  banks  of  the  rivers, 
running  back  almost  to  the  foothills  of  the  Andes.  It  is 
four  or  five  times  as  large  as  New  England,  but  its  bound- 
aries are  not  well  defined  and  the  greater  part  is  still  un- 
explored. 


248  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Most  of  the  Gran  Chaco  is  a  vast  plain  less  than  a 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  It  has  many  great  swamps 
and  is  crossed  by  the  Pilcomayo  and  Bermejo  (ber-ma'ho) 
rivers,  which  rise  in  Bolivia  and  flow  into  the  Paraguay. 
Both  streams  are  crooked,  shallow,  and  obstructed  by  sand 
bars,  but  there  are  small  boats  on  the  Pilcomayo,  and  little 
steamers  which  will  take  us  several  hundred  miles  up  the 
Bermejo.  The  country  is  well  watered  ;  it  has  great  forests 
and  millions  of  acres  of  highlands  covered  with  grass.  In 
the  Argentine  Chaco  at  the  south  they  are  making  farms 
to  raise  cotton,  sugar  cane,  and  corn.  Already  many  large 
estates  have  been  formed.  Farther  north  are  extensive 
pasture  lands,  and  the  country  will  some  day  support  a 
great  many  people. 

The  Parana  basin  contains  some  of  the  best  wood  lands 
of  South  America,  and  Argentina  alone  has  forests  which 
cover  an  area  almost  as  large  as  Texas.  Most  of  these  are 
in  the  Chaco,  and  there  are  other  large  forests  in  that  part 
of  the  territory  belonging  to  Paraguay  and  Bolivia. 

In  these  regions  the  trees  are  of  many  varieties.  There 
are  soft  woods  that  will  float,  and  hard  woods  so  heavy  they 
will  sink  like  a  stone.  Among  the  soft  woods  is  a  red  cedar 
used  for  cigar  boxes,  and  woods  excellent  for  pulp  and  paper. 
One  of  the  most  important  of  the  hard  woods  is  the  algaroba 
(al-ga-ro'ba),  wliich  looks  like  black  walnut.  It  is  used 
for  paving  blocks,  and  many  streets  in  Buenos  Aires  are  paved 
with  it.  Another  hard  wood  is  the  lapacho,  which  has  a 
beautiful  grain  and  takes  a  fine  polish.  It  is  as  strong  as 
hickory  and  can  be  used  as  spokes  for  the  wheels  of  wagons 
and  automobiles. 

The  most  important  wood,  however,  is  the  quebracho 
(ka-brach'o) ,  which  not  only  is  good  for  railroad  ties  and 
telegraph  poles,  but  also  contains  so  much  tannin  that 


THE   GRAN   CHACO  249 

it  is  extracted  for  shipment  to  all  parts  of  the  world  to  be 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  leather.  A  great  part  of  the 
leather  used  in  the  United  States  is  tanned  with  quebracho. 
In  making  the  extract  the  wood  is  ground  to  sawdust  and 
boiled.  The  extract  is  exported  in  cakes,  which  are  after- 
wards reduced  to  a  liquid.  The  word  "quebracho"  means 
ax-breakcr.  The  tree  is  so  hard  that  it  will  turn  the  edge  of 
an  ax,  and  when  used  for  railroad  ties,  holes  have  to  be  bored 
for  the  spikes,  for  they  cannot  be  driven  into  the  wood. 

As  we  think  of  the  forests  it  seems  strange  that  they  do 
not  supply  lumber  to  all  parts  of  the  Parana  basin.  It 
would  surely  be  cheaper  to  get  out  this  wood  for  Argentina 
and  Uruguay  than  from  our  forests  in  Oregon  and  New 
England.  Yes,  it  seems  so  at  first,  but  not  after  we  have 
studied  the  matter.  Much  of  the  Chaco  wood  is  so  heavy 
that  it  will  not  float.  The  logs  must  be  loaded  upon  carts 
and  dragged  through  the  forests  or  else  taken  by  railroad 
to  the  Paraguay  River  before  they  can  be  sliippcd  down  to 
Buenos  Aires.  In  our  country  we  have  the  snow  to  help 
us  get  the  logs  to  the  rivers,  and  our  lumber  floats.  Here 
there  is  no  snow.  It  costs  a  great  deal  to  get  the  logs  out 
of  the  forests,  and  the  freight  rates  on  the  steamers  are  so 
high,  that  it  is  much  cheaper  for  the  people  near  the  coast 
of  South  America  to  bring  their  lumber  from  North  America, 
five  thousand  miles  farther  away,  than  to  buy  it  here  nearer 
home. 

The  Gran  Chaco  is  for  the  most  part  as  wild  as  it  was 
when  Sebastian  Cabot  sailed  up  the  Parana.  Its  chief 
inhabitants  are  Indians,  some  of  whom  go  naked  all  the 
year  round.  The  Tobas,  for  instance,  wear  almost  nothing 
except  when  they  cross  the  Paraguay  River  to  trade.  They 
are  among  the  tallest  of  the  red  men,  some  being  over  six 
feet  in  height.     Their  skin  is  so  thick  they  can  walk  on 


250 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


thorny  ground  without  sandals.  They  tattoo  themselves 
with  blue  and  red  lines  and  dye  their  hair  yellow.  The  Toba 
braves  are  good  hunters  and  fishers,  but  the  squaws  do 
most  of  the  work,  planting  the  crops,  cooking  the  meals, 
and  weaving  the  blankets. 


^Many  ul   ihe  Indians  are  nomads,  wandering  from  place  to  place. 
They  need  few  clothes  and  no  permanent  houses. 


Another  tribe  of  the  Chaco  are  the  Lenguas,who  are  ex- 
perts in  taming  wild  animals  and  birds.  Farther  north  are 
Indians  who  were  noted  as  oarsmen  when  the  Spanish  first 
came.  They  were  terrible  warriors  and  had  their  oars  tipped 
with  spearheads  so  that  they  could  use  them  as  weapons. 

Many  of  the  South  American  Indians  are  nomads,  wander- 
ing about  from  place  to  place.     Others  have  villages  of  huts 


THE   GRAN   CHACO 


251 


so  built  together  that  one  roof  of  straw  thatch  covers  several 
houses.  The  people  sleep  on  skins  on  the  bare  ground. 
The  women  are  quite  cleanly,  washing  their  pots  and  pans 
at  the  close  of  each  meal.  They  are  good  cooks,  although 
they  have  but  few  cooking  utensils.  Forks  are  unknown, 
every  one  carries  his  own  knife,  and  shells  are  used  for  spoons 
The  chief  weapons  of  the  Indians  are  bows  and  arrows,  and 
with  them  they  can  bring  down  the  most  savage  beasts  of 
the  forest. 


i/ 

^  ■ 

,-  '  ■: 

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aitf^^ 

^erf- 

. 'JflHW^^^II^r^' 

■ifariKl 

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"^■■■ri 

^J^l^y^^^  ' 

^jyjffj^Htw 

wM 

w 

^H^^^^^^w 

^^ 

m 

} 

T 

I^TIMiSi 

-;    •    ts-                 1- 

Alligator. 


The  Chaco  is  a  great  hunting  country.  There  are  alli- 
gators in  all  the  streams,  and  in  traveling  near  the  water  at 
night  we  have  to  move  carefully  lest  we  step  on  them. 

As  we  camp  overnight  in  the  forest  we  are  now  and  then 
aroused  by  the  crack  of  a  branch,  and  see  the  fierce  eyes  of 
a  brute  flashing  out  of  the  darkness.  It  is  a  jaguar  after 
our  dogs.  These  animals  hate  dogs  and  it  is  dangerous  to 
travel  with  them  through  the  forest.  It  seldom  attacks 
men,  and  if  we  meet  one  in  the  underbrush  a  yell  will  usually 
drive  it  away. 


2s2 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


Another  curious  animal  of  the  Chaco  is  the  aguara  guazu, 
a  species  of  wolf  dog  about  a  yard  long.  It  has  sharp  ears, 
a  pointed  muzzle,  and  yellow  fur  with  a  bushy  tail  like  that 
of  a  fox.  It  has  a  hoarse  bark  which  can  be  heard  a  long 
way.  This  dog  lives  in  the  swamps  and  goes  out  hunting 
at  night.  It  attacks  sheep  and  deer,  and  will  fight  for  its 
life  with  a  jaguar. 


The  jaguar  is  the  largest  of  the  cat  family  in  America,  and  almost 
equals  the  tiger  in  strength  and  ferocity. 


But  what  is  that  shrill,  whistling  cry  which  we  hear  night 
after  night  in  the  forest?  That  is  a  tapir,  an  animal  about 
the  size  of  a  yearling  calf  with  a  head  like  a  pig,  and  a  snout 
like  an  elephant's  trunk  but  much  shorter.  It  is  inoffensive 
if  let  alone,  but  it  will  bite  and  kick  our  dogs  if  they  go 
near  it.  The  skin  of  the  tapir  is  so  thick  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  kill  it  unless  it  is  shot  in  the  forehead  or  be- 
hind the  shoulder. 


THE   GRAN   CHACO 


253 


Even  more  dangerous  are  the  peccaries,  which  are  found 
in  great  numbers  in  parts  of  the  Chaco.  They  are  Httle 
wild  pigs  with  sharp  teeth,  and  go  about  in  herds  of  eight 
or  ten  and  sometimes  fifty  or  more.  They  are  ferocious 
and  often  attack  travelers  who  come  near  them  on  foot. 
If  we  should  meet  them  it  will  be  best  for  us  to  cUmb  trees 
and  shoot  at  them'  from  there.     Peccaries  live  on  roots  and 


Tapir. 


fallen  fruits.  They  eat  the  wild  oranges  and  nuts  of  the 
woods.  At  night  they  sometimes  sneak  into  the  Para- 
guayan villages  for  the  oranges  that  grow  in  the  gardens. 
The  Chaco  has  parrots,  toucans,  and  other  gorgeous  birds 
of  the  tropics.  It  has  one  bird  whose  feathers  are  said  to 
shine  like  flames  of  fire  and  another  which  has  dancing  per- 
formances, when  a  dozen  or  more  will  rush  into  an  open  place 


254  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  dance  about,  screaming  and  raising  their  long  beaks  as 
they  do  so. 

The  streams  of  the  Chaco  are  full  of  odd  fish,  some  of 
which  live  in  the  mud,  and  one  of  which  will  attack  and 
bite  men.  The  latter  grows  to  a  length  of  a  foot  and  a  half. 
It  has  teeth  as  sharp  as  a  razor,  and  its  jaws  are  so  strong 
that  it  can  drive  them  through  one's  flesh  to  the  bone. 

1.  Describe  the  Rio  cie  la  Plata  basin.  Compare  it  with  the 
Mississippi  valley. 

2.  Name  the  discoverer  of  the  river.  Compare  his  boat  with  one 
of  the  great  steamers  of  to-day.  What  do  you  know  about  him? 
Where  is  Gibraltar  ?  What  strait  does  it  guard  ?  Tell  the  story 
of  the  first  steamboat ;  the  first  electric  lights. 

3.  What  is  the  length  of  the  Parana  River?  How  does  it  com- 
pare with  the  Amazon?     The  Orinoco?     The  Mississippi-Missouri? 

4.  Show  how  rivers  build  up  the  lowlands.  How  are  the  floating 
islands  formed  ? 

5.  Describe  the  Gran  Chaco.  To  what  three  countries  does  it 
belong  ? 

6.  What  important  products  come  from  its  forests?  Trace  a 
shipment  of  quebracho  from  Corrientes  to  the  tanneries  of  Newark, 
New  Jersey. 

7.  Why  does  Argentina,  which  has  vast  forests,  import  lumber 
from  Oregon  and  New  England  ? 

8.  IMake  a  hunting  trip  through  the  Chaco  and  describe  the 
Indians  you  might  see.  Compare  these  Indians  with  those  of  Peru, 
Bolivia,  and  ChUe. 

9.  What  is  a  tapir?     A  peccary?     A  jaguar? 


PARAGUAY 


255 


B    O 


XXXIII.     PARAGUAY 

WE  are  on  the  Paraguay  River  this  morning.  We 
have  left  Corrientes  and  are  steaming  northward 
through  a  country  of  forests.  The  water  is  not  so  muddy 
as  that  of  the  Parana,  on  which  we  have  been  traveling, 
and  the  stream  is  not  nearly  so  wide.  It  is,  however,  a 
mighty  river  as  deep  as  the  Mississippi  and  about  eighteen 
hundred  miles  long.  It  is  navigable  for  steamers  for  more 
than  a  thousand 
miles  above  Corrien- 
tes, and  small  ves- 
sels can  go  upon  it 
far  into  Brazil. 

We  get  our  first 
sight  of  the  republic 
of  Paraguay  soon 
after  leaving  Corri- 
entes. That  land 
along  the  east  bank 
is  a  part  of  it,  and 
those  villages  with 
the  orange  trees 
about  them  are  the 


homes  of  Paraguay  people. 

As  we  sail  onward  the  country  grows  considerably  wilder. 
Our  vessel  moves  this  way  and  that  in  following  the 
channel,  and  we  are  often  close  to  the  great  trees  on' the 
shore.  The  forests  of  this  region  abound  in  timber 
which  is  excellent  and  of  great  durability.  We  hear 
parrots  screaming  at  us  from  the  branches,  and  now 
and  then  with  the  glass  catch  sight  of  a  monkey  grinning 
out  through  the  leaves.      There  are  many  birds  of  beauti- 


256  SOUTH   AMERICA 

ful  plumage,  and  flocks  of  wild  ducks  rise  from  the  lagoons 
which  we  pass  every  few  miles.  We  get  our  guns  and  take 
a  shot  at  the  birds.  We  shoot  also  at  the  alhgators  on  the 
shore  and  at  those  which  scud  through  the  water  or  dive 
down  as  we  pass. 

The  west  bank  of  the  Paraguay  River  is  especially  wild. 
It  belongs  to  the  Gran  Chaco,  and  we  could  not  travel  a 
mile  inland  without  meeting  jaguars  and  monkeys,  and 
we  might  even  see  boa  constrictors  as  large  as  those  of  the 
Amazon  basin.  We  stop  occasionally  at  one  of  the  towns 
on  the  east  bank  and  finally  come  to  anchor  at  the  wharves 
of  Asuncion,  the  capital  of  Paraguay. 

Paraguay,  like  Bolivia,  is  a  country  without  a  seacoast. 
It  lies  about  as  far  inland  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  as  our 
state  of  Michigan,  but  by  the  winding  way  up  the  rivers  we 
have  journeyed  as  far  as  from  New  York  to  Omaha.  We 
are  now  about  midway  on  the  west  border  of  Paraguay 
proper.  The  country  is  composed  of  two  divisions,  Para- 
guay proper  and  the  Chaco.  We  have  already  learned 
something  of  the  Chaco.  It  is  the  ''Wild  West"  of  Para- 
guay. It  is  but  little  developed  and  inhabited  chiefly  by 
savage  Indians  and-  wild  beasts.  It  is  the  vast  territory 
lying  west  of  the  Paraguay  River  and  north  of  the  Pilcomayo 
River,  being  bounded  on  the  north  by  Bolivia.  The  Chaco 
has  large  forests,  many  swamps,  and  some  cultivable 
lands.  Almost  all  of  it  is  still  in  a  state  of  nature,  having 
been  but  little  explored. 

Paraguay  proper  is  the  settled  part  of  the  republic.  It 
has  all  the  cities  and  towns  and  is  the  only  part  in  which 
many  civilized  people  live.  It  Hes  east  of  the  Paraguay 
River  and  north  of  the  Parana,  being  located  somewhat 
as  Illinois  is  in  our  own  country,  the  Parana  corresponding 
to  the  Ohio  River,  and  the  Paraguay  to  the  Mississippi. 


PARAGUAY  257 

The  country  is  larger  than  Illinois  and  much  like  it  in 
character.  The  land  is  beautifully  rolling  with  numerous 
streams  upon  which  the  crops  can  be  moved  to  the  ports 
of  the  Parana  and  Paraguay  rivers.  It  has  great  pastures 
and  large  tracts  of  rich  soil.  Running  through  it  are  one 
or  two  low  mountain  ranges  which  are  covered  with  forests 
and  add  greatly  to  the  beauty  of  the  scenery.  The  climate 
is  much  like  that  of  Florida,  and  therefore  the  products 
are  semi-tropical.  There  are  small  plantations  of  tobacco, 
manioc,  and  sugar  cane.  Orange  trees  grow  everywhere, 
and  clumps  of  palm  trees  upon  the  great  plains. 

The  people  of  Paraguay  are  few.  They  are  composed  of 
the  whites,  of  the  mixed  race,  and  of  pure  Indians.  Those 
of  the  white  and  mixed  races  number  only  about  six  hundred 
thousand,  while  there  are,  perhaps,  one  fourth  as  many 
Indians.  When  the  Spaniards  first  came  these  Indians 
were  more  civilized  than  most  of  the  other  tribes  of  the 
continent,  and  many  of  the  Spaniards  took  Indian  wives. 
Their  sons  and  daughters  also  married  Indians,  and  we  find 
nearly  all  the  people  now  have  more  or  less  Indian  blood  in 
their  veins. 

The  Indians  were  of  the  Guarani  (gwa-ra'ne)  tribes  and 
to-day  the  Guarani  language  is  more  used  than  the  Spanish. 
We  shall  take  with  us  a  guide  who  understands  Guarani 
to  act  as  interpreter  during  our  tour,  for  we  may  be  in  places 
where  the  people  cannot  speak  Spanish. 

Paraguay  has  no  large  cities.  The  largest  by  far  is  the 
capital,  Asuncion,  which  is  as  big  as  Grand  Rapids,  Miclii- 
gan.  The  next  is  Villa  Rica  (vel'ya  re'ca),  the  population 
of  which  numbers  thirty  thousand  or  more,  and  after  that 
Villa  Concepcion  and  Villa  Encarnacion  (en-kar-na-syon'), 
fast-growing  ports  on  the  Parana  and  Paraguay  rivers. 
Small  towns  and  villages  are  scattered  about  the  country. 


2_^8 


PARAGUAY  259 

The  city  of  Asuncion  is  the  business,  social,  and  financial 
center  and  has  always  been  the  principal  town  of  Paraguay. 
As  we  go  through  it  we  shall  find  many  modern  improve- 
ments. It  has  banks,  telegraphs,  colleges,  and  newspapers, 
the  latter  sold  by  newsboys  as  bright  as  those  of  our  cities. 
There  are  good  houses,  several  large  churches,  and  many 
buildings  mossy  with  age. 

Asuncion  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  our  hemisphere. 
It  was  founded  in  1536.  The  first  babies  born  in  it  had 
grown  into  gray-haired  men  and  women  before  Captain 
John  Smith  landed  at  Jamestown.  It  was  long  one  of  the 
chief  centers  of  civilization  of  South  America,  and  for  some 
years  was  more  important  than  either  Buenos  Aires  or 
Montevideo.  It  lost  this  place  after  the  great  war  origi- 
nated by  President  Lopez  between  Paraguay  and  the 
combined  forces  of  Argentina,  Uruguay,  and  Brazil,  in 
which  Paraguay  was  forced  to  give  up  much  of  her  terri- 
tory. At  that  time  Asuncion  was  almost  destroyed  and 
the  country  laid  desolate. 

Indeed,  so  many  of  the  men  were  killed  that  the  women 
had  to  do  all  kinds  of  work.  This  is  so  to-day.  We  notice 
this  as  we  walk  from  the  wharves  into  the  city.  It  is 
early  morning  and  the  streets  are  filled  with  women  going 
to  and  from  market.  How  like  ghosts  they  look !  Each 
is  clad  in  white  with  a  long  cotton  sheet  wrapped  about  her 
head  so  that  only  her  dark  face  shows.  The  most  of  them 
are  barefooted,  and  they  make  no  noise  as  they  walk  spirit- 
like through  the  streets.  There  is  one  coming  toward  us 
who  has  a  great  jar  upon  her  head  and  a  load  of  firewood  in 
her  arms.  She  is  walking  rapidly,  and  her  dark  legs  below 
her  white  skirts  show  halfway  to  the  knees.  Behind  her 
comes  another  white-sheeted  figure  upon  whose  head  is  a 
basket  of  oranges  with  a  chunk  of  raw  meat  on  top.     The 


26o 


PARA(iUAY 


261 


basket  is  perfectly  balanced  and  she  walks  along  without 
touching  her  burden.  There  are  other  women  carrying  all 
sorts  of  things  on  their  heads  —  bags  of  vegetables,  pans 
of  meat,  bundles  of  firewood  ;  in  fact,  they  carry  everything 
on  their  heads.  It  seems  no  trouble  to  keep  the  loads  steady, 
for  as  we  pass  they  do  not  hft  their  hands  and  take  no  pains 
to  avoid  being  jostled. 


Paraguayan  water  carriers.     The  square  objects  are  Standard  Oil  tins, 
in  which  petroleum  has  been  brought  from  the  United  States. 


Asuncion  is  laid  out  in  the  Spanish  style,  the  streets  cross- 
ing one  another  at  right  angles  with  a  park  or  a  plaza  here 
and  there.  Many  of  the  streets  are  paved.  There  are 
electric  car  lines  in  all  parts  of  the  city  and  suburban  lines 
reach  out  into  the  country.  The  city  is  now  connected 
with  Buenos  Aires  by  railway  and  has  a  fine  railway  station. 

The  streets  are  wide,  but  the  town  is  so  up  hill  and  down 


262  SOUTH  AMERICA 

that  there  are  but  few  carriages  and  automobiles.  There 
are  many  donkeys  ridden  or  led  by  boys.  Many  of  the 
carts  are  hauled  by  three  mules  abreast ;  the  animals  go  so 
fast  that  we  jump  up  on  the  sidewalk  to  get  out  of  the  way. 

What  curious  houses  1  They  are  almost  all  of  one  story, 
built  in  blocks  close  to  the  pavement  so  that  they  form  soUd 
walls  from  street  to  street.  All  have  iron-barred  windows 
and  each  is  a  different  color.  Here  is  one  of  sky  blue,  the 
house  next  to  it  is  rose  pink,  and  over  the  way  is  one  of  pale 
yellow. 

Here  comes  a  poKceman.  He  is  dressed  in  a  blue  uni- 
form with  a  long  sword  at  his  side.  If  he  should  arrest  us 
he  would  take  us  into  a  red  jail  and  on  the  way  we  should 
pass  the  Ulac-colored  building  in  which  congress  meets.  We 
might  see  the  cream-tinted  palace  from  where  the  president 
rules,  and  should  go  by  houses  of  every  color.  The  school- 
house  may  be  of  any  color  of  the  rainbow.  The  children 
usually  go  barefoot  to  school,  it  is  so  warm. 

Let  us  take  a  look  at  the  business  part  of  the  town.  The 
stores  are  not  large  but  they  are  stocked  with  goods  from 
all  parts  of  the  world.  That  building  on  the  corner  is  the 
chief  hotel  of  the  country.  It  was  once  a  palace  of  the 
tyrant  Lopez. 

The  market  house  is  a  block  farther  on.  It  looks  more 
like  a  monastery  than  a  market.  It  is  a  great  one-story 
building  running  about  a  hollow  square,  with  a  low  roof  of 
galvanized  iron  which  extends  out  upon  all  sides,  over  the 
cloisters  or  wide  porches  which  surround  it.  The  market 
house  is  painted  red,  the  color  forming  a  bright  background 
for  the  strange  figures  about  it.  People  are  buying  and 
selling  at  the  meat  stalls  in  the  building.  The  court  inside 
is  filled  with  tables  and  benches  where  aU  kinds  of  Para- 
guayan things  are  sold. 


PARAGUAY  263 

Let  us  stop  in  the  porches  and  look  about  us.  Every 
part  of  the  market  is  swarming  with  women.  There  are 
scores  of  them  sitting  on  the  bricks  with  their  wares  spread 
out  before  them.  Others  stand  behind  the  butcher  counters 
and  with  knives  and  saws  cut  up  meat  for  their  customers. 

Others  have  vegetables,  laces,  and  jewelry,  which  they 
beseech  us  to  buy.  What  a  chatter  they  make  as  they 
bargain !  There  are  no  scales  or  measures.  See  this 
vegetable  woman  who  is  sitting  almost  under  our  feet. 
She  has  a  stock  of  green  peas  which  she  has  arranged  in 
piles  on  the  bricks.  There  is  about  a  pint  in  each  pile, 
and  the  customers  buy  by  eye  measure.  Each  purchaser 
brings  a  cloth  to  wrap  what  she  buys,  for  the  women  furnish 
neither  paper  nor  string. 

In  going  through  the  market  we  can  learn  much  concern- 
ing the  chief  products  of  Paraguay.  We  see  tobacco  sold 
everywhere  and  learn  that  Paraguay  raises  considerable 
tobacco  for  export  to  Europe,  although  most  of  the  crop 
is  consumed  at  home.  Three  fourths  of  the  women  we 
meet  have  cigars  in  their  mouths.  Both  buyers  and  sellers 
are  smoking  like  chimneys.  Some  of  the  women  are  chew- 
ing cigars,  and  others  are  rolling  up  leaf  tobacco  to  smoke. 
We  see  small  girls  smoking  and  chewing,  and  boys  of  six  or 
eight  years  smoke  without  stint. 

Among  the  other  things  sold  in  large  quantities  are  manioc 
and  oranges.  Manioc  is  a  root  which  takes  the  place  of 
both  potatoes  and  wheat  as  food.  It  grows  in  great  bunches, 
each  root  being  about  the  size  of  a  carrot.  There  are  two 
varieties,  one  of  which  is  boiled  or  roasted  like  a  potato, 
the  other  must  first  be  ground  and  squeezed  to  take  out 
a  poisonous  juice  which  it  contains.  When  dry  it  becomes 
a  flour  that  is  eaten  in  soup  and  stews  and  in  other 
ways. 


264  SOUTH  AMERICA 

XXXIV.     A  TRIP   INTO   THE   INTERIOR 
OF   PARAGUAY 

TO-DAY  we  are  traveling  through  the  interior  of  Para- 
guay. We  have  taken  our  seats  in  one  of  the  first- 
class  cars  of  the  railroad  which  runs  from  Asuncion  to 
Villa  Rica  and  thence  southward  to  the  Parana  River 
at  Encarnacion,  where  it  connects  with  the  railway  system 
of  Argentina  and  goes  on  to  Buenos  Aires. 

Leaving  Asuncion,  we  pass  the  villas  of  rich  Paraguayans, 
go  by  the  agricultural  college  where  the  boys  are  playing 
under  the  palm  trees,  and  then  on  into  great  pastures  bor- 
dered with  bushy  woods  and  spotted  here  and  there  with 
small  clumps  of  trees.  The  country  is  naturally  fitted  for 
live  stock,  and  some  day  it  will  be  one  of  the  chief  meat- 
producing  lands  of  the  world.  It  already  has  millions  of 
cattle  and  sheep  and  tens  of  thousands  of  horses  and  goats. 

The  lands  are  as  rich  as  our  prairies  and  resemble  them, 
save  that  thickets  and  groves  everywhere  give  shade  for 
the  cattle.  We  are  in  a  vast  sea  of  grass  which  seems  to  be 
flowing  in  and  out  among  islands  of  trees.  In  summer  the 
woods  are  fragrant  and  the  plains  are  covered  with  beautiful 
flowers.  Paraguay  has  miles  of  such  pastures  and  the  red 
soil  grows  the  richest  of  fodder. 

There  is  a  big  herd  of  cattle  now  at  our  left.  We  can  see 
the  gauchos  on  horseback  moving  to  and  fro  among  the 
beasts  and  driving  them  this  way  and  that.  They  are 
probably  picking  out  the  best  for  shipment,  or  they  may  be 
about  to  brand  the  stock. 

A  Kttle  farther  to  the  right  we  see  a  village  and  we  pass 
small  towns  every  few  miles.  Most  of  the  Paraguayans 
live  in  villages.  Their  houses  are  merely  thatched  huts 
with  walls  of  woven  poles  covered  with  mud. 


A  TRIP  INTO  THE   INTERIOR  OF   PARAGUAY      265 

We  can  visit  one  while  the  train  waits  to  change  engines 
at  one  of  the  stations.  What  a  rude  hut  it  is !  It  has  two 
parts,  a  room  about  fifteen  feet  square  and  a  shed.     The 


Lace-making  is  the  chief  industry  of  the  Paraguayan  women. 

This  handkerchief  was  made  by  hand,  taking  many  days 

of  work. 


shed  has  no  walls ;  it  is  merely  an  extension  of  the  thatched 
roof  which  covers  the  closed  room,  and  is  upheld  by 
poles. 


266  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  people  live  in  the  shed  during  the  day.  There  are 
hammocks  hung  to  the  poles  and  men  and  women  are  sitting 
in  them.  Naked  babies  and  half  naked  children  play  about 
on  the  dirt  floor.  The  chmate  is  warm  in  summer,  and  it 
is  only  the  breeze  sweeping  through  the  shed  that  makes 
life  endurable. 

There  is  but  Uttle  furniture.  We  see  only  a  table  and 
one  or  two  chairs.  The  chief  object  of  interest  is  a  log 
stancUng  on  end.  It  is  about  as  high  as  your  waist;  and 
there  is  a  hollow  in  the  top.  Before  the  log  a  woman  is 
standing.  She  has  a  heavy  club  in  her  hand,  which  she 
is  lifting  up  and  dropping  on  some  corn  inside  the  hollow. 
Such  logs  are  the  grist  mills  of  Paraguay.  In  them  the 
women  pound  their  corn  and  manioc  to  flour.  We  find 
the  people  hospitable.  They  live  simply  and  do  not 
seem  to  care  for  anything  except  something  to  eat,  a  little 
liquor  to  drink,  and  enough  cigars  to  smoke  all  the  day 
through. 

Now  we  are  again  on  the  train  moving  through  the  fields. 
What  are  those  odd  little  hills  which  stand  out  like  haycocks 
among  the  green  grass  ?  There  are  hundreds  of  them,  dark- 
red  mounds,  spotting  the  fields  and  looking  as  though  they 
had  been  thrown  up  by  man.  We  are  now  passing  some 
as  high  as  our  waists.  A  Httle  farther  on  is  a  field  in  which 
there  are  thousands  which  would  reach  hardly  to  our  knees. 
What  can  they  be?  They  seem  to  be  nothing  but  dirt. 
They  are  ant  cities,  each  mound  being  an  ant  apartment 
house,  as  it  were. 

Paraguay  has  countless  millions  of  ants  which  throw  up 
such  mounds  all  over  the  country.  In  some  places  there 
are  so  many  that  they  destroy  the  pastures,  and  the  people 
must  fight  the  ants  before  they  can  cultivate  the  ground. 
Every  hill  must  be  dug  out,  for  there  are  as  many  ants  be- 


Young  Paraguayans.     Behind  the  boys  is  a  carl  loaded  wiih  slicks 
for  firewood.     The  climate  is  hot   and  most  of  the  children  go 

barefoot. 
267 


268 


A  TRIP  INTO  THE  INTERIOR  OF  PARAGUAY      269 

low  as  above  ground.  After  that  tlie  hills  are  set  on  fire. 
They  burn  easily,  and  in  this  way  the  ants  are  destroyed. 

The  ants  sometimes  burrow  into  the  houses.  A  woman 
may  awake  in  the  morning  to  find  a  great  mound  of  dirt 
on  her  parlor  floor,  the  ants  having  decided  to  build  a  vil- 
lage there.  She  sweeps  out  the  dirt  and  deluges  the  brick 
floor  with  hot  water.  A  morning  or  so  later  she  may  find 
the  ants  again  besieging  her  dwelling. 

But  we  are  nearing  a  station.  Get  out  your  money  for 
that  crowd  of  women  peddlers  who  are  coming  to  canvass 
the  cars.  Here  they  are  now.  One  has  a  pile  of  straw  hats 
fitted  one  into  the  other  on  the  top  of  her  head.  She  will 
sell  you  a  hat  for  fifteen  cents  of  our  money.  There  is  a 
bareheaded  girl  with  some  cakes,  each  as  large  around  as  a 
dinner  plate,  and  there  are  others  with  fruits  and  baby 
clothes  and  fine  laces.  Notice  the  lace  handkerchief  which 
that  dark-faced  little  girl  spreads  out  before  you.  It  is  as 
delicate  as  a  cobweb  and  is  made  of  fibers  grown  in  the 
country.  Lace-making  is  the  chief  industry  of  the  Para- 
guayan women,  and  many  beautiful  things  may  be  bought 
very  cheaply. 

Let  us  get  out  on  the  platform  and  follow  the  crowd 
rushing  toward  the  women  squatted  down  on  the  bricks. 
They  are  peddlers,  but  their  wares  are  too  hea\'y^  to  be 
brought  into  the  train.  Some  are  seUing  meat.  Yes. 
selling  beefsteaks  at  a  station !  They  have  baskets  of  raw 
beef  before  them  and  are  peddUng  it  out  to  the  passengers. 

The  girls  have  cream-colored  faces,  dark  eyes,,  soft  black 
hair,  and  fairly  good  teeth.  Nearly  all  are  in  their  bare  feet, 
and  we  have  to  be  careful  not  to  step  on  their  toes  with  our 
heavy  shoes  as  we  stroll  about  through  the  crowd. 

Here  is  a  maiden  with  a  lot  of  oranges  piled  up  l)eforeher. 
Let  us  see  how  many  we  can  get  for  a  medio,  or  three  quar- 


27c 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


ters  of  a  cent  of  our  money.  I  point  to  the  pile  and  say- 
in  my  poor  Spanish:  "Quantos  naranjas  por  un  medio, 
senorita?" 

"Ocho,"  replies  the  girl  as  she  puffs  a  volume  of  smoke 
out  of  her  nostrils  and  hands  me  eight  golden  balls. 


There  are  man\  donkeys  ridden  or  led  by  boys. 

We  buy.  more  and  more  oranges  as  we  go  from  station 
to  station,  and  find  them  as  sweet  as  the  best  of  our  Florida 
fruit.  They  have  a  fine  flavor.  The  skins  are  so  full  of  oil 
that  we  can  hght  with  a  match  the  drops  we  squeeze  out  on 
the  surface. 

Paraguay  is  above  all  the  country  of  oranges.     We  see 


MATE,  OR   PARAGUAY  TEA  271 

the  trees  in  every  thicket,  and  they  peep  at  us  out  of  the 
forests  with  their  golden  eyes.  The  mud  huts  of  the  farmers 
stand  amid  orange  groves  and  in  some  places  there  are  so 
many  oranges  that  they  rot  on  the  ground. 

Oranges  are  sent  by  millions  down  the  Paraguay  River  to 
Uruguay  and  Argentina.  They  are  brought  to  the  banks 
of  the  river  from  the  orchards  in  ox  carts  so  large  that  each 
will  hold  about  five  thousand  oranges.  The  fruit  is  dumped 
out  like  so  many  potatoes,  the  drivers  taking  no  more  care 
in  emptying  their  carts  than  when  dumping  dirt  in  repairing 
the  roads. 

During  the  season  there  are  great  piles  of  oranges  on  the 
banks  at  all  the  river  towns,  with  scores  of  women  kneeling 
before  them  picking  up  the  fruit  and  putting  it  into  baskets. 
As  soon  as  a  basket  is  full  it  is  handed  to  a  carrier,  a  woman 
who  raises  it  to  her  head  and  balances  it  there,  as  she  trots 
along  over  a  board  walk  from  the  bank  to  the  steamer.  We 
often  see  a  hundred  women  thus  trotting  along  in  single 
file.  Each  has  a  round  basket  filled  with  oranges  on  the 
top  of  her  head.  She  walks  rapidly  over  the  springing 
boards  without  touching  her  hand  to  the  basket. 

The  hold  of  the  steamer  is  filled  first  and  then  a  wire  netting 
is  stretched  about  the  deck,  making  a  fence  as  high  as  a 
man's  head,  within  which  the  golden  fruit  is  piled. 

— »o>»:oo — 
XXXV.     MATE,   OR   PARAGUAY  TEA 

WE  have  returned  from  our  trip  into  the  interior  and 
are  again  on  our  way  to  the  north.  There  are 
boats  twice  a  week  from  Asuncion  to  Villa  Concep- 
cion,  and  once  every  fortnight  a  Brazilian  steamer  calls 
at  the  Paraguay  ports  on  its  way  into  the  wilds  of  southern 


2  72  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Brazil.  We  resolve  to  go  first  to  Villa  Concepcion,  the 
chief  port  of  northern  Paraguay,  and  from  there  to  make 
some  tours  through  the  forests  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 

A  short  distance  above  Asuncion  the  Paraguay  narrows. 
The  scenes  along  it  are  of  great  beauty.  The  banks  are 
well  wooded,  and  now  and  then  we  see  a  clearing  in  which 
is  a  village  with  orange  trees  hanging  above  the  thatched 
huts.  There  are  more  wild  birds  than  there  were  farther 
south.  Alligators  are  numerous,  and  if  we  rise  before  day 
we  may  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  panther  swimming  across  the 
river  as  they  sometimes  do  about  dawn.  We  pass  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Confuso  and  come  to  land  again  at  Villa 
Concepcion. 

Here  we  see  scores  of  men  bringing  bales  of  yerba  mate 
(yer'ba  mata'),  or  Paraguay  tea,  down  to  the  wharves  and 
putting  them  on  the  steamer.  Yerba  mate  is  one  of  the 
chief  exports  of  Paraguay  and  Brazil.  It  commands  a 
high  price  in  all  South  American  countries  south  of  the 
equator,  and  Paraguay  produces  enough  every  year  to 
make  a  cup  of  tea  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
world.  Mate  was  used  as  tea  before  Columbus  discovered 
America.  The  Indians  induced  the  Spaniards  to  try  it, 
and  it  has  now  become  the  favorite  beverage  of  many  South 
American  people.  Argentina  uses  seven  times  as  much 
mate  as  coffee  and  twenty-six  times  as  much  as  Chinese 
or  Japanese  tea.  Brazil,  which  grows  more  coffee  than  any 
other  country  in  the  world,  raises  and  consumes  a  great 
deal  of  mate.  The  people  of  Uruguay  and  Chile  prefer 
it  to  all  other  drinks. 

But  what  is  this  tea  that  so  tickles  the  South  American 
palate?  It  is  easy  to  learn.  There  is  a  woman  on  the 
steamer  drinking  some  now.  Our  cabin  boy  will  bring  us 
a  bowl  if  we  ask  him.     It  is  served  in  a  round  gourd  as  big 


Above  —  Mate  packed  for  export. 

Below  —  Mate  leaf,  bowl  made  of  a  gourd,  and  metal  bombilla. 


273 


274  SOUTH  AMERICA 

as  a  baseball  with  a  handle  fitted  into  the  side,  and  one 
drinks  it  boiling  hot.  A  spoonful  of  the  powdered  leaves 
is  put  into  the  bowl,  the  hot  water  is  poured  in,  and  the  tea 
is  ready  for  use.  You  do  not  put  the  bowl  to  your  mouth, 
but  suck  the  mate  up  through  a  tube.  The  tube  is  called 
a  bombilla  (bom-bel'ya) .  Sometimes  it  is  of  silver,  some- 
times of  brass,  and  among  the  poorer  people  often  a  hollow 
reed.  The  metal  tube  ends  in  a  bulb.  This  bulb  is 
pierced  with  holes  so  that  the  tea  is  strained  as  you  suck 
it  into  your  mouth. 

Here  comes  the  boy  with  our  mate.  Be  careful  how  you 
put  the  bombilla  between  your  hps.  The  boiling  tea  has 
made  it  so  hot  that  it  may  take  the  skin  off.  Wet  your  lips 
first  and  then  try  it.  How  bitter  the  tea  is  1  At  first  drink- 
ing it  does  not  taste  at  all  good,  but  it  is  quite  stimulating, 
and  it  will  refresh  one  when  tired.  Many  South  Americans 
take  nothing  else  for  their  early  breakfast.  If  the  Argen- 
tine gaucho  has  his  mate  in  the  morning  he  will  gallop  on 
horseback  all  day  over  the  pampas  and  be  satisfied  to  get 
his  first  meal  when  we  are  eating  our  suppers. 

The  plants  which  furnish  the  mate  arc  low  bushes  which 
grow  among  the  other  trees.  They  are  much  Hke  the  holly 
bush  and  sometimes  grow  as  high  as  a  small  orange  tree. 
The  leaves  are  green  all  the  year,  the  younger  leaves  making 
the  best  tea.  The  people  who  gather  the  mate  leaves  chop 
off  the  small  branches  and  bring  them  in  bundles  to  camps 
in  the  forest.  Here  there  are  drying  houses,  each  consisting 
of  a  framework  with  an  arched  roof  of  poles  woven  together 
and  upheld  by  posts.  Under  the  roof  there  is  a  floor  of 
clay,  so  well  hammered  down  that  it  is  hard  as  stone. 
After  the  leaves  are  dried  they  are  reduced  to  a  powder. 
This  is  baled  in  skins  and  is  the  mate  of  commerce. 
About  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  such  bales  of  tea  are  made 


BRAZIL  275 

in  Paraguay  each  year,  and  we  shall  see  mule  trains  loaded 
with  them  making  their  way  toward  the  ports. 

There  are  many  other  interesting  things  in  Paraguay, 
but  the  mail  steamer  is  almost  due  at  Villa  Concepcion  and 
we  must  hurry  back  if  we  would  go  on  it  north  to  Brazil. 

1.  Name  ihe  two  sections  into  which  Paraguay  is  divided.  In 
what  is  it  like  Bolivia  with  regard  to  the  sea? 

2.  How  does  Paraguay  resemble  Illinois?     Florida? 

3.  What  races  are  found  in  Paraguay?  Compare  the  Indians 
with  those  of  the  Gran  Chaco  ;  with  the  Indians  of  the  western 
United  States. 

4.  What  is  the  principal  city  of  Paraguay  ?  When  was  it  founded  ? 
Describe  your  walk  through  it. 

5.  What  are  the  chief  things  sold  in  the  markets? 

6.  Compare  the  country  scenes  with  those  of  the  United  States. 

7.  What  fruit  is  most  plentiful?  Where  does  it  grow  in  the 
United  States? 

8.  What  is  yerba  mate?  How  is  it  gathered  and  prepared  for 
export?  What  other  drink  comes  chiefly  from  South  America? 
Where  does  our  tea  come  from  ? 


o^4»ic 


XXXVI.     BRAZIL 

LET  us  look  at  the  map  of  South  America  and  try  to 
realize  the  enormous  extent  of  Brazil  before  we  begin 
to  explore  it.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  countries  of 
the  world  and  it  contains  almost  half  of  all  the  land  of  the 
continent.  It  is  three  times  as  large  as  the  Argentine 
repubHc ;  it  is  larger  than  the  United  States,  not  in- 
cluding Alaska.  If  it  could  be  lifted  up  and  laid  down 
upon  our  country  it  would  extend  from  east  to  west  as  far 
as  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  and  it  would  take  in 
a  large  part  of  both  Mexico  and  Canada.     Its  Atlantic 


276  SOUTH   AMERICA 

coast  line  is  equal  to  that  between  Puget  sound  and  Panama, 
and  it  touches  every  country  in  South  America  except 
Chile  and  Ecuador. 

This  great  republic  consists  of  twenty  states  and  one 
territory.  Some  of  the  states  are  enormous  and  others 
compare  in  size  with  the  smaller  states  of  our  countr}^  al- 
though none  is  as  small  as  Maryland.  Amazonas,  the  land 
of  forests  and  rubber,  would  make  nine  states  as  large  as 
Kansas;  Para  (pa-ra'),  another  great  rubber  land  Ijdng 
east  of  it,  is  ten  times  as  large  as  Pennsylvania;  Matto 
Grosso  (mat'oo  gros'06),  a  highland  much  of  which  is 
covered  wdth  pasture,  is  nine  times  as  large  as  lUinois ;  and 
Goyaz  (go-yash')  is  larger  than  Texas.  Goyaz  has  rich 
farms  and  pastures,  and  it  is  said  to  have  iron  by  the 
milHons  of  tons.  Minas-Geraes  (me'nash  zha-rish')  is  rich 
in  minerals,  and  like  Sao  Paulo  (soun  pou-loo)  it  has  vast 
plantations  of  coffee. 

Brazil  produces  three  fourths  of  the  coffee  of  the  world 
and  a  large  part  of  the  rubber,  and  it  leads  all  countries 
in  the  production  of  cacao.  It  has  more  than  two  thousand 
tobacco  factories  and  hundreds  of  sugar  and  cotton  mills. 
It  has  tens  of  millions  of  cattle  and  many  sheep,  goats,  and 
horses. 

This  vast  territory  is  almost  as  varied  in  character  as  the 
United  States.  Much  of  it  is  made  up  of  highlands  and 
two  fifths  is  an  elevated  plateau,  the  mean  altitude  of  which 
is  about  that  of  our  Appalachian  Mountains.  Upon  the 
plateau  there  are  peaks  here  and  there  that  rise  to  a  height 
of  one  and  one  half  miles  above  the  sea,  and  there  is  one 
that  reaches  nine  thousand  feet,  being  higher  than  any 
mountain  on  the  eastern  side  of  our  country.  The  Amazon 
basin  is  larger  than  that  of  the  ^Mississippi,  a  great  part  of 
it  being  lowland  plains  covered  with  forest. 


BRAZIL  277 

Brazil  is  well  watered,  it  has  small  regions  of  drought, 
but  there  are  no  great  deserts  like  those  of  our  western 
highlands,  the  Sahara  in  Africa,  or  the  Oobi  desert  in  Asia. 
The  plateau  of  Brazil  is  cut  by  great  rivers,  the  Amazon 
gathering  more  water  than  any  other  river  of  the  globe. 
The  waterways  of  the  Amazon  system,  if  they  could  be 
joined  end  to  end,  are  long  enough  to  reach  around  the 
globe,  and  their  navigable  length,  if  laid  upon  the  United 
States,  would  form  two  canals  clear  across  it  from  Cape 
Cod  to  the  Golden  Gate. 

Brazil  has  a  score  of  rivers  outside  of  the  Amazon  basin, 
some  of  which  are  one  thousand  miles  long,  nevertheless 
almost  unknown  to  us.  The  Parahyba  (pa-ra-e'ba)  River 
is  as  long  as  from  New  York  to  Chicago,  the  Sao  Francisco 
(soun  fran-ses'ko)  is  twice  as  long,  and  steamboats  can  sail 
on  it  farther  than  from  St.  Paul  to  New  Orleans.  The 
Parana,  the  headwaters  of  which  are  in  Brazil,  has  water- 
falls that  have  been  compared  with  those  of  Niagara,  and 
at  one  place  on  the  Sao  Francisco  the  river  drops  two 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet,  or  one  hundred  feet  more  than 
Niagara.  Brazil  is  said  to  have  waterfalls  that  could  create 
over  fifty  million  horse  power,  and  in  the  state  of  Sao  Paulo 
it  is  estimated  that  there  is  more  than  two  million  horse 
power  in  the  undeveloped  cascades. 

Such  a  vast  country  must  have  many  climates.  The 
equator  crosses  the  northern  part  near  the  Amazon,  and  the 
whole  of  the  Amazon  basin  is  in  the  torrid  zone.  At  the 
far  south  the  climate  is  temperate.  Even  in  the  summer 
month  of  January  the  thermometer  seldom  reaches  one 
hundred,  and  in  midwinter,  which  occurs  in  July,  there  is 
often  snow  on  the  ground.  Moreover,  the  highlands  give 
much  of  the  country  farther  north  a  temperate  climate, 
and  in  those  regions  grow  wheat  and  corn. 


278  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Most  of  the  lowlands  are  tropical  and  raise  rice,  tobacco, 
and  sugar.  There  are  large  areas  fitted  for  cotton,  while 
several  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  are  the  greatest  coffee 
plantations  on  earth.  Brazil  has  vast  grazing  lands  for 
the  rearing  of  cattle.  It  has  already  many  milUons  of  cattle 
and  will  one  day  be  a  meat-exporting  country. 

The  Amazon  valley  has  forests  which  cover  an  area  two 
thirds  as  large  as  the  United  States  proper,  and  there  are 
extensive  pine  lands  in  southern  Brazil.  The  country  is  also 
one  of  minerals,  including  almost  everything  except  coal, 
from  gold  and  diamonds  to  iron  and  graphite,  although  the 
greater  part  of  its  mineral  resources  is  as  yet  unexplored. 

South  America  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  a  part  of  Span- 
ish America.  It  would  be  quite  as  proper  to  call  it  a  part 
of  Portuguese  America,  for  Brazil,  which  we  have  learned 
contains  nearly  half  the  land  of  the  continent  and  almost 
one  half  of  the  people,  was  discovered  and  settled  by  people 
from  Portugal.  The  Brazilians  speak  Portuguese  instead 
of  Spanish,  which  is  the  language  of  the  other  half  of  the 
continent.  Rio  de  Janeiro  (re'o  da  zha-na'ro)  is  the  largest 
Portuguese  speaking  city  of  the  world,  and  Brazil  has  five 
times  as  many  inhabitants  as  Portugal.  The  population  is 
about  one  fourth  as  large  as  that  of  the  United  States,  and 
it  is  rapidly  increasing  by  immigration  from  Europe.  The 
country  has  land  enough  for  a  very  great  nation,  and  it 
will  some  day  have  many  millions  more  people  than  it  has 
now. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  Brazil  is  important,  and  its 
trade  with  the  United  States  is  rapidly  increasing.  We 
buy  of  Brazil  more  of  its  principal  products,  coffee  and  rub- 
ber, than  any  other  country ;  and  the  ships  bringing  them 
to  the  United  States  should  take  back  cargoes  of  goods 
made  in  our  country.    During  the  World  War  in  Europe  our 


BRAZIL 


279 


exports  of  machinery,  railway  materials,  and  manufactured 
articles  were  doubled,  and  we  shall  sell  more  and  more  to 
the  Brazilians  as  that  country  develops  its  resources.  They 
are  buying  our    railway    materials,    electrical    machinery, 


SOLE  or  MiLes 
6    160  ax)  300  400 


Grande  Jo  Sul   ^ 

I     Principal  Railroads  , 


and  other  manufactures ;  and  we  are  investing  much  of 
our  capital  in  Brazilian  mines,  cattle  ranches,  and  factories 
of  one  kind  or  another. 

Steamers  sail  regularly  from  the  United  States  to  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  Santos  (san'toosh),  caUing  at  Pernambuco 
(per-nam-boo'ko)   and  Bahia ;    also  to  Para  and  Manaos 


28o  SOUTH   AMERICA 

(^man-a'os) ,  from  which  latter  port  there  are  smaller  vessels 
going  on  up  the  Amazon  to  Iquitos  (e-ke'tos)  in  Peru. 

XXXVII.     THE   WILDS   OF   MATTO   GROSSO 

TO-DAY  we  are  again  moving  northward  on  the  Para- 
guay River.  We  have  been  travehng  some  time  and 
are  now  in  the  wilds  of  southern  Brazil.  Our  boat  is 
winding  in  and  out  among  the  mountains,  at  the  base  of 
which  are  tall  palms  and  fern  trees.  Now  we  pass  forests 
so  filled  with  xdnes  and  creepers  that  we  can  see  only  a  few 
feet  back  from  the  banks ;  we  could  not  possibly  make  our 
way  into  the  interior  without  an  ax  or  knife. 

What  is  that  furry  face  with  the  twinkhng  black  eyes, 
grinning  at  us  out  of  the  branches,  chattering  and  gnashing 
its  teeth?  That  is  a  monkey.  There  are  thousands  of 
them  in  these  forests.  That  great  red  and  blue  bird  with 
a  hooked  bill  as  long  as  your  hand  is  a  toucan.  There  are 
other  strange  birds  in  the  trees. 

We  see  many  wild  animals.  There  is  a  white  deer  in  the 
bushes.  Those  black  things  near  the  shore  which  look  like 
logs  are  alHgators.  They  have  been  disturbed  by  the  waves 
of  our  steamer  and  are  climbing  out  on  the  banks.  Some 
are  diving  down  into  the  water  or  swirmning  to  get  out  of 
i  the  way  of  our  boat. 

•  Look  at  the  Indians  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  !  They 
are  half  naked ;  they  shake  their  spears  at  us  as  we  steam  on 
our  way.  This  part  of  Brazil  is  full  of  wild  men  and  there 
are  more  Indians  than  whites.  Farther  on  to  the  west  are 
vast  regions  which  have  no  people  but  savages. 

As  we  proceed  the  country  grows  wilder,  save  here  and 
there  where  we  pass  httle  farms  cut  out  of    the  forests. 


THE  WILDS  OF   MATTO   GROSSO 


281 


Now  our  boats  stop  at  one  for  fresh  meat.  The  cattle  are 
lifted  on  board  by  their  horns.  We  get  fish  from  the  river 
and  the  small  streams  flowing  into  it.  There  are  so  many 
fish  that  one  has  only  to  explode  a  dynamite  cartridge  under 


iMonkcy. 


the  water  and  dozens  of  fish,  killed  by  the  shock,  will  float 
on  their  backs  all  around  the  boat. 

At  the  boundary  of  Brazil  we  pass  Fort  Corimbra,  and 
soon  after  reach  Corumba,  where  we  find  the  only  customs 
house  of  this  part  of  Brazil.  While  the  steamer  waits  we 
visit  the  city,  which  is  on  a  high  bluff  overlooking  the  river. 
It  looks  so  much  like  Asuncion  that  we  might  think  we 


282  SOUTH  AMERICA 

were  back  among  the  Paraguayans  were  it  not  that  the 
language  is  new.  These  people  speak  Portuguese  and  for 
weeks  we  shall  hear  Httle  else.  It  sounds  much  like  Spanish 
but  is  harsher  and  not  so  melodious. 

We  are  now  traveling  in  Matto  Grosso.  The  words 
mean  ''Great  Forest"  and  the  state  is  one  of  the  wildest 
parts  of  Brazil.  It  has  vast  woods  which  have  never  been 
trodden  by  white  men,  and  plains  upon  which  thousands 
of  wild  cattle  are  feeding.  The  part  through  which  we 
are  traveling  contains  about  the  only  white  settlements, 
and  Cuyaba  (koo-ya-baO ,  where  we  stop  next,  is  its  capital, 
the  metropolis  of  interior  Brazil. 

Until  recently  the  Paraguay  River  was  the  only  easy 
route  to  Matto  Grosso  but  one  can  now  go  there  by  railway 
from  eastern  Brazil.  We  are  now  on  the  height  of  land  be- 
tween the  Amazon  and  the  Parana  basins,  and  by  a  short 
journey  we  could  reach  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Ama- 
zon and  sail  down  them  to  the  ocean. 

At  present  most  traveling  in  Matto  Grosso  is  done  by 
water.  Horses  and  mules  are  but  little  used,  and  away  from 
the  river  we  are  offered  bullocks  for  riding  animals.  We  see 
men  riding  bullocks,  and  women  sitting  astride  them  Hke 
the  men.  Bullocks  are  used  for  plowing.  They  drag  huge 
carts  over  the  road  and  serve  as  pack  animals.  It  seems 
strange  when  we  first  climb  on  their  backs,  but  we  find 
them  good  saddle  beasts,  their  gait  being  a  sort  of  pace. 

We  are  surprised  at  Cuyaba.  For  such  an  out-of-the- 
way  place  it  has  many  modern  improvements.  It  has 
colleges  and  schools,  electric  cars,  waterworks,  and  a  cathe- 
dral. Sunday  afternoons  there  is  music  in  the  plaza 
and  we  enjoy  ourselves  under  the  great  palm  trees,  whose 
fanlike  leaves  move  to  and  fro  in  the  breeze. 

The  region  about  Cuyaba  has  fine  farms,  and  many  new 


Indian  boy  of  Matto  Grosso.     He  wears  beads  and  feathers  solely 
for  ornament.     He  stands  on  the  skin  and  head  of  a  jaguar. 

283 


284 


THE  NIAGARA  OF  SOUTH   AMERICA  285 

cattle  ranges  are  being  formed  in  different  parts  of  Matto 
Grosso.  The  country  has  excellent  grass  and  it  will  some 
day  furnish  much  of  the  meat  of  Brazil.  Some  fine  cattle 
have  been  introduced,  among  them  the  sacred  bulls  wor- 
shiped in  India. 

There  is  gold  in  the  hills  near  Cuyaba  and  we  are  told 
that  the  boys  of  the  city  go  out  after  a  big  rain  and  search 
for  grains  of  gold  in  the  streets  which  have  been  flooded  by 
the  streams  from  the  hills,  and  are  often  well  paid  for  their 
trouble.  We  look  to  see  if  we  cannot  perhaps  find  a  stray 
golden  nugget,  but  alas !  there  is  nothing  but  sand. 

«J»io« 

XXXVIII.     THE   NIAGARA   OF   SOUTH 
AMERICA  —  SOUTHERN   BRAZIL 

WE  have  been  travehng  for  more  than  a  month  since 
we  left  Matto  Grosso.  We  sailed  from  Cuyaba 
south  on  the  Paraguay  River  to  Asuncion,  from 
where  we  went  by  rail  to  Encarnacion  and  were  ferried 
across  the  Alto-Parana  River  to  the  town  of  Posades  (po- 
sa-das')  in  Argentina.  The  Alto-Parana  is  the  name  given 
to  the  Parana  north  of  where  it  unites  with  the  Paraguay. 
Posades  is  one  of  the  ports  and  is  the  starting  point  for  the 
falls  of  the  Iguassu  River  (e-gwa-soo'),  which  might  be 
called  the  "Niagara  of  South  America."-  At  Posades  we 
took  a  steamer  and  made  our  way  up  the  Alto-Parana  to  the 
little  town  of  Puerto  Aguirre  near  the  boundary  between 
Argentina  and  Brazil,  where  the  Iguassu  River  flows  into 
the  Parana  after  its  mighty  drop  at  the  falls. 

The  Iguassu  River  rises  in  the  highlands  of  eastern  Brazil 
and  flows  for  about  four  hundred  miles  westward  before 
it  enters  the  Alto-Parana.      We  take  carriages  and  ride 


286  SOUTH   AMERICA 

through  the  woods  for  a  distance  of  ten  or  twelve  miles 
before  we  arrive  at  the  cataracts.  We  can  hear  the  noise 
of  the  waters  long  before  we  reach  them,  and  when  we  come 
out  we  behold  a  sight  which  reminds  us  of  our  own  great  falls 
at  Niagara. 

The  Iguassu  is  now  at  the  height  of  the  flood  season  and  a 
mighty  volume  of  water  is  pouring  down  over  the  rocks. 
The  falls  are  several  times  as  wide  as  Niagara  and  they  drop' 
in  a  series  of  terraces  or  steps,  one  of  which  is  much  higher 
than  our  falls  at  Goat  Island.  The  water  goes  over  the 
rocks  with  a  terrible  noise  and  a  mist  rises  high  into  the 
air  and  drops  almost  like  rain. 

The  cataracts  are  surrounded  by  a  dense  vegetation,  and 
a  short  ride  from  them  will  take  one  into  tropical  jungles. 
In  the  dry  season  the  falls  have  a  much  smaller  volume, 
but  they  are  a  valuable  water  power  which  eventually  will 
be  harnessed  for  electricity  as  are  those  of  Niagara. 

Leaving  the  falls,  we  go  back  to  Posades  and  thence  by 
rail  through  the  rich  Argentine  province  of  Entre  Rios 
to  Buenos  Aires,  where  we  take  a  steamer  and  make  our 
way  from  port  to  port  along  the  Atlantic  shores  of 
southern  Brazil. 

Our  first  stop  is  at  Porto  Alegre  (por-t5  a-la'gra),  the  capi- 
tal of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  (re'o  gran'da  doo  sool) .  This  state, 
like  its  sister  states  of  Parana  and  Santa  Catharina 
(kat-a-re'na),  is  devoted  to  raising  corn,  wheat,  and  meat. 
Its  pastures  are  much  like  those  of  Argentina.  It  has 
cattle  and  sheep,  and,  great  meat-packing  plants,  and  also 
establishments  such  as  we  saw  on  the  Uruguay  River, 
where  hundreds  of  oxen  are  killed  every  day  for  jerked  or 
dried  beef. 

Porto  Alegre  has  public  schools,  colleges,  newspapers, 
and  stores.     We  are  surprised  to  see  that  more  than  half 


A  pine  tree  of  soulhcni  Bra/il.     There  are  many  such  trees. 

287 


288  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  people  are  Germans.  There  are  German  clerks  in  the 
stores,  and  we  meet  German  children  everywhere  on  the 
streets.  Southern  Brazil  is  largely  settled  by  Germans. 
They  find  the  climate  quite  as  temperate  as  that  of  the 
fatherland  and  make  their  homes  here,  just  as  many  Ger- 
mans have  done  in  the  United  States. 

The  town  is  connected  by  railway  with  Uruguay  and 
with  other  parts  of  southeastern  Brazil. 

1.  Bound  Brazil.  Compare  it  with  South  America  in  size;  with 
Europe ;  with  the  United  States.  How  many  states  has  Brazil  ? 
How  many  has  our  country  ?  What  is  the  size  of  your  state  ? 
How  many  such  states  would  equal  Brazil? 

2.  Describe  Brazil  as  to  surface  and  drainage.  What  parts  of 
Brazil  have  a  temperate  climate?  Why?  When  is  it  summer  in 
southern  Brazil?     When  is  it  winter? 

3.  What  language  is  spoken  in  Brazil?     Why? 

4.  What  are  the  chief  products  of  Brazil?  What  do  we  sell  to 
Brazil?     What  do  we  buy  from  her? 

5.  What  are  the  chief  routes  from  Brazil  to  Europe?  To  the 
United  States?  (See  maps  and  Tables  1  and  II.)  Suppose  you 
were  ordered  to  leave  home  to-morrow  for  Rio  de  Janiero,  how  would 
you  go?  How  far  would  you  have  to  travel  and  how  long  would 
you  be  on  the  way  ? 

6.  Tell  the  story  of  our  travels  through  Matto  Grosso.  Can  we 
reach  Matto  Grosso  by  railway?     Locate  Cuyaba. 

7.  Where  are  the  great  falls  of  South  America?  Compare  them 
with  Niagara  and  with  the  Victoria  Falls.  (See  Carpenter's  "  North  i 
America"  and  Carpenter's  "Africa.") 

8.  What  are  the  chief  products  of  southern  Brazil?  Name  the 
three  southern  states.  How  do  they  compare  with  Uruguay  in 
products  and  climate?  What  European  people  are  found  there 
in  great  numbers? 

g.  Look  up  in  your  history  the  story  of  the  discovery  of  Brazil ; 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

10.  Name  the  chief  rivers  of  Brazil.  Compare  them  with  rivers 
of  the  United  States. 


SANTOS  AND   SAO   PAULO  289 

XXXIX.    SANTOS  AND   SAO  PAULO 

FROM  Porto  Alegre  we  steam  northward  along  the  coast 
of  southern  Brazil  to  Santos,  enter  a  wide  bay,  and 
come  to  anchor  at  docks  among  vessels  from  the  United 
States  and  Europe  taking  on  coffee.  Brazil  produces  most 
of  the  coffee  of  the  world  and  Santos  is  the  chief  port  from 
which  it  is  shipped.  The  vessels  which  have  just  come  in 
are  unloading  rice  from  India,  codfish  from  Massachusetts 
and  Newfoundland,  cotton  goods  from  Liverpool  and  Bos- 
ton, and  lumber  from  the  pine  lands  of  Maine.  They  will 
replace  these  cargoes  with  coffee,  which  will  soon  be  on  its 
way  across  the  Atlantic  to  supply  the  breakfast  tables  of 
other  lands. 

Going  on  shore,  we  stroll  about  from  one  ship  to  another. 
What  a  strong  smell  of  coffee  surrounds  us !  The  air  is 
full  of  it  and  everywhere  we  look  we  shall  see  it  in  one  shape 
or  another.  Motor  trucks  piled  high  with  bags  are  coming 
in  from  the  trains  to  the  warehouses,  and  scores  of  negroes 
are  unloading  the  carts  and  carrying  the  bags  to  the  steamers. 
Each  bag  weighs  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  pounds,  but 
a  man  Hfts  it  on  his  head  and  shoulders,  and  trots  off  as 
though  he  were  carrying  feathers.  The  warehouses  are 
full  of  coffee.  The  bags  are  piled  like  so  much  cord  wood, 
some  of  the  rooms  being  packed  from  the  floor  to  the  roof. 
Not  a  few  of  the  establishments  have  endless  belts  which 
carry  the  bags  to  a  chute,  down  which  they  fly  into  the  hold 
of  the  steamers,  much  as  we  saw  the  wheat  loaded  at  Rosario. 
The  work  goes  on  rapidly,  and  during  the  harvesting  season 
more  than  fifty  milHon  pounds  of  coffee  are  often  shipped 
in  one  day.  The  larger  part  of  this  goes  to  the  United 
States,  our  people  taking  more  than  one  half  of  the  crop 
raised  in  Brazil. 


290 


SANTOS  AND  SAO  PAULO  291 

Leaving  the  wharves,  we  stroll  about  the  city.  It  is 
wonderfully  clean  and  well  kept.  Its  buildings  are  of  sev- 
eral stories  and  painted  in  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow. 
There  are  great  palm  trees  in  the  parks  and  plazas,  and  the 
homes  in  the  suburbs  have  many  tropical  plants  in  their 
gardens.  We  take  the  electric  street  cars  and  ride  out  to 
the  seaside  resort  of  Guaruja  (gwa-roo'zha) .  It  is  one 
of  the  finest  of  Brazil  and  is  a  famous  summering  j)lace 
for  the  southern  parts  of  the  republic. 

Returning  to  Santos,  we  take  tickets  for  Sao  Paulo,  which 
lies  on  the  plateau  over  the  mountains  about  forty-seven 
miles  away.  The  ride  is  deUghtful.  The  plateau  is  several 
thousand  feet  above  Santos  and  its  cUmate  is  that  of  the 
temperate  zone.  As  we  leave  the  station  the  train  carries 
us  through  fields  of  bananas,  the  tall  plants  bending  with 
their  huge  bunches  of  green  fruit.  We  go  by  coco- 
nut trees  and  then  on  through  a  jungle  of  tropical  vegeta- 
tion, which  becomes  more  and  more  dense  in  the  foothills 
and  on  our  way  up  the  mountain.  The  trees  are  now 
loaded  with  orchids  and  other  air-plants  bearing  exquisite 
flowers.  They  are  bound  together  and  wrapped  around 
with  creepers  and  vines,  the  whole  forming  a  wall  of  green 
on  each  side  of  the  track.  The  vegetation  is  so  dense  that 
we  can  see  only  a  few  feet  through  the  trees. 

The  railway  from  Santos  to  Sao  Paulo  is  a  wonder  of  ci\dl 
engineering.  It  crosses  deep  canyons  and  cuts  its  way 
through  many  tunnels.  The  rainfall  is  heavy  and  the  road- 
bed is  protected  by  gutters  hned  with  cement.  At  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  the  ordinary  locomotives  are  uncoupled 
and  the  train  is  divided  into  sections  of  two  cars  each. 
Each  section  is  now  fastened  by  a  steel  rope  or  cable  to  a 
stationary  engine  at  the  station  above,  which  \vinds  up  the 
cable,  pulhng  our  cars  up  the  hills.     When  the  cars  reach 


292  ^  SOUTH   AMERICA 

an  altitude  about  a  half  mile  higher  than  where  we  started 
they  are  on  the  plateau.  The  sections  are  again  coupled 
and  an  ordinary  steam  railroad  locomotive  carries  the  train 
across  the  country  to  Sao  Paulo. 

We  take  taxicabs  at  the  station  and  are  soon  riding 
through  the  second  largest  city  of  Brazil  and  the  third  in 
size  on  the  South  American  coJitinent.  Sao  Paulo  is  one 
of  the  wealthiest,  most  progressive,  and  most  beautiful  of 
all  the  cities  south  of  the  equator.  It  is  the  financial  center 
of  the  coffee  industry  and  the  railway  center  of  southern 
Brazil.  It  is  also  the  capital  of  the  state  of  Sao  Paulo,  one 
of  the  richest  parts  of  the  republic. 

Sao  Paulo  is  an  old  city.  It  was  founded  more  than  fifty 
years  before  Captain  John  Smith  landed  at  Jamestown, 
but  most  of  its  houses  are  'new  and  its  buildings  modern. 
It  has  wide,  well-paved  streets,  electric  cars  moved  by  the 
waterfalls  of  the  river  Tiete  (te-a-ta'),  thirty-five  miles 
away,  and  magnificent  public  buildings,  theaters,  and  edu- 
cational institutions.  The  city  has  one  hundred  and  sixty 
public  schools,  which  are  about  as  good  as  our  own.  It 
has  also  a  college,  with  teachers  from  the  United  States, 
which  has  pupils  from  every  part  of  the- continent. 

We  stay  overnight  at  the  hotel  and  upon  rising  go  out 
for  a  walk.  It  is  early  morning  and  we  meet  many  children 
on  their  way  to  school.  Most  of  the  girls  are  bareheaded 
and  many  wear  dark-colored  clothing.  The  boys  have 
caps,  coats,  and  knee-breeches,  with  their  legs  bare  from 
their  knees  to  their  shoes,  where  their  short  stockings  end.  ■ 
Each  child  has  a  bag  of  books  in  his  hand.  They  are  laugh- 
ing and  playing  on  their  way  to  school. 

Step  out  of  the  way  of  the  street  cars !  They  come  in 
trains,  one  car  following  another  until  a  dozen  have  passed. 
Some  of  the  cars  are  loaded  with  freight.     They  are  on  the 


IN  THE   LAND   OF   COFFEE  293 

way  to  the  markets.  They  are  second-class  cars,  used 
chiefly  by  the  servants,  for  a  man  with  a  large  basket  or 
bundle  is  not  allowed  in  the  regular  passenger  cars.  We 
see  also  many  automobiles  and  can  get  taxicabs  at  low  rates 
of  fare. 

During  our  stay  in  Sao  Paulo  we  visit  the  department  of 
agriculture,  which  has  to  do  with  the  state  of  Sao  Paulo, 
and  there  learn  something  about  the  enormous  resources 
of  this  part  of  Brazil.  The  country  has  large  cattle  ranches, 
and  upon  the  lowlands  are  raised  tobacco,  cotton,  and  rice. 
The  highlands  have  great  areas  devoted  to  Indian  corn, 
wheat,  and  beans,  and,  most  important  of  all,  to  coffee. 


o>«ic 


XL.     IN   THE   LAND   OF   COFFEE 

BRAZIL  produces  more  than  two  thirds  of  all  the 
coffee  used  by  man.  This  very  morning  there  are 
millions  of  people  in  the  United  States  who  have  had 
a  cup  of  Brazilian  coffee  with  their  breakfast.  We  are 
great  coffee  drinkers  and  we  ought  to  know  about  this  part 
of  South  America,  for  most  of  our  coffee  comes  from 
here  and  we  are  the  chief  customers  Brazil  has  for  this  crop. 
Coffee  grows  best  in  a  semitropical  climate.  The  j)lants 
cannot  endure  frost,  but  at  the  same  time  they  must  not  be 
spoiled  by  the  heat.  The  climate  of  many  parts  of  Brazil 
is  just  suited  to  them,  and  the  best  coft'ee  regions  are  on  the 
highlands  west  and  south  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  which  are  from 
one  to  three  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The 
best  of  all  the  coffee  lands  are  in  the  state  of  Sao  Paulo, 
where  we  now  are.  They  lie  several  hundred  miles  back 
from  the  coast  in  a  country  which  is  gently  rolHng,  and  much 


294  SOUTH  AMERICA 

i> 

'of  which  looks  not  unlike  parts  of  the  United  States.  The 
plantations  cover  but  a  small  part  of  Sao  Paulo.  Alto- 
gether, they  are  not  equal  to  half  the  size  of  the  state  of 
JVIassachusetts  ;  nevertheless,  they  support  more  than  seven 
liundred  milUon  coffee  trees,  and  annually  produce  enough 
to  give  every  man,  woman,  and  child  on  the  earth  one  pound 
of  coffee  and  leave  some  to  spare. 

.  But  let  us  take  the  train  and  visit  some  of  the  big  coffee 
estates.  Some  of  the  largest  of  them  are  about  Ribeirao 
Preto  (re-be' e-rob  pra'tob),  so  far  away  from  the  city  of 
Sao  Paulo  that  it  takes  us  almost  a  day  to  reach  them  by 
rail.  We  ride  through  rolling  plains  covered  with  grass, 
pass  clumps  of  palms,  and  then  go  on  through  forests  of 
hardwoods,  the  trunks  of  which  are  twisted  about  like 
corkscrews.  The  trees  are  bound  together  in  a  mat  by  the 
long  vines  and  creepers  which  hang  down  from  their 
branches.  Now  we  pass  a  banana  plantation,  and  now 
lemon  and  orange  trees  in  the  gardens  by  the  side  of  the 
road. 

This  part  of  Brazil  has  not  had  rain  for  some  weeks.  A 
cool  wind  is  blowing  and  the  air  from  the  plowed  fields  is 
loaded  with  dust.  The  boys  who  peddle  fruit  at  the  stations 
are  covered  with  dust,  and  we  find  ourselves  sneezing  as  it 
gets  into  our  noses. 

What  queer  dust  it  is  !  It  is  as  red  as  a  brick  and  it  turns 
everything  red.  We  are  soon  hke  so  many  Sioux  Indians, 
our  collars  are  red  streaks  around  our  dusty  red  necks,  and 
our  coats  look  as  though  they  were  sprinkled  with  cayenne 
pepper.  There  is  red  on  the  fences  and  on  the  trees  and 
bushes.  We  see  wide  streaks  of  deep  red  cutting  their  way 
through  the  reddish  green  grass.  Those  streaks  are  the 
roads,  for  the  ground  under  the  sod  is  the  color  of  brick. 

This  red  land  is  the  famous  coffee  soil  of  Brazil.     Its 


IN  THE  LAND  OF   COFFEE  295 

color  comes  from  the  iron  mixed  with  the  other  matter  com- 
posing it,  and  the  redder  it  is  the  better  the  soil  is  thought 
to  be  for  the  raising  of  coffee. 

The  plantations  begin  about  fifty  miles  from  Sao  Paulo, 
and  from  there  we  ride  all  day  among  hills  covered  with  coffee 
trees.  Most  of  the  crop  is  grown  upon  large  estates.  The 
one  we  visit  has  about  five  milUon  trees  and  is  the  largest 
coffee  plantation  of  the  world.  It  is  so  large  that  we  could 
not  go  around  the  outside  of  it  in  a  day,  if  we  began  walk- 
ing when  the  sun  rose  and  kept  on  steadily  until  dark. 
Railroad  tracks  have  been  built  upon  it  from  the  factories 
to  all  parts  of  the  estate,  and  we  are  carried  from  field  to 
field  on  one  of  the  little  steam  engines  kept  for  hauling  the 
crops. 

The  ride  is  a  beautiful  one.  About  us  as  far  as  our  eyes 
can  see  is  nothing  but  coffee  bushes.  The  whole  land  is 
covered  with  a  mantle  of  green,  striped  here  and  there  with 
bands  of  bright  red.  The  green  mantle  is  the  coffee  and 
the  red  stripes  are  the  roads.  The  bushes  are  set  out  in 
regular  rows  and  extend  on  and  on,  until  they  lose  tliem- 
selves  in  the  sky  at  the  tops  of  the  hills  in  the  distance. 

As  we  proceed  we  can  see  the  plants  in  their  different 
stages  of  growth.  In  some  fields  they  are  not  as  high  as 
our  knees  and  in  others  they  are  three  times  as  high  as 
our  heads.  Here,  men  are  plowing  the  fields,  driving  care- 
fully through  the  green  plants  and  turning  up  the  red  soil. 
There,  boys  are  clown  on  their  knees  pulling  the  weeds ; 
farther  on,  a  gang  of  laborers  is  laying  out  new  rows 
among  the  stumps  of  the  freshly  cleared  lands,  while  others 
are  setting  out  coffee  plants  from  the  nurseries. 

Five  thousand  people  are  kept  busy  on  this  plantation 
raising  the  crop  and  preparing  it  for  the  market,  and  we 
shall  learn  that  a  great  deal  of  work  is  required  to  produce 


IN  THE   LAND  OF  COFFEE  297 

the  cup  of  coffee  we  have  at  breakfast.  Most  of  it  comes 
from  Brazil.  In  the  first  place  let  me  tell  you  what  ccjffee 
beans  are.  You  have  seen  in  grocery  stores  the  ground 
powder  and  the  green  and  brown  coffee  beans  from  which 
it  is  made.  These  coffee  beans  are  far  different  from  the 
coffee  berries  when  picked  from  the  trees.  The  beans 
are  the  seeds  of  the  berries.  You  can  see  some  of  the 
berries  on  that  bush  over  there.  They  are  just  like  dark 
red  cherries,  and  each  is  about  the  size  of  a  marble. 
They  hang  in  clusters  close  to  the  limbs  among  the  green 
leaves.  In  each  berry  are  two  seeds,  which  form  the 
coffee  of  commerce.  There  are  smaller  cherries  at  the 
ends  of  the  branches.  Some  of  these  have  only  one 
round  seed  inside  them.  Those  seeds  are  sold  as  mocha 
coffee,  although  the  real  mocha  is  supposed  to  come  from 
Arabia. 

How  the  seeds  arc  gotten  out  we  shall  see  later.  Out 
here  in  the  fields  we  must  learn  how  the  bushes  are  grown. 
In  the  first  place,  the  land  must  be  cleared  and  made  tit 
for  the  crop.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  soils  of 
Brazil,  and  one  must  have  just  the  right  kind  of  soil  to 
raise  coffee.  The  soil  of  this  plantation  is  made  of  de- 
composed lava  mixed  with  decayed  vegetable  growth.  It 
contains  potash,  soda,  and  lime,  and  also  oxide  of  iron 
and  phosphoric  acid. 

The  beans  to  be  sown  are  selected  as  carefully  as 
the  boys  of  our  corn  clubs  select  their  seed  corn.  They 
are  first  planted  in  seed  beds  and  soon  sprout  and  little 
green  plants  shoot  up  through  the  soil.  After  a  few 
months  they  have  grown  a  foot  high.  They  are  now 
ready  for  transplanting  to  the  fields.  The  plants  are  set 
quite  deep  in  the  ground.  A  little  basin  is  dug  for  each 
one,  and  at  first  sticks  or  leaves  are  spread  over  it  to 


298  SOUTH  AI^IERICA 

protect  it  from  the  hot  rays  of  the  sun.  It  is  carefully  hoed 
to  keep  down  the  weeds,  and  at  the  age  of  four  years  it  be- 
gins to  bear  fruit.  A  good  tree  should  produce  three  or 
four  pounds  of  coffee  a  year,  and  in  the  rich  cofifee  lands 
of  southern  Brazil,  a  tree  will  often  bear  crops  for  thirty 
years  or  more.  The  coffee  begins  to  blossom  in  December, 
and  in  April  or  May  the  berries  are  ripe  and  the  picking  be- 
gins. Hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children  may  then 
be  seen  moving  among  the  bushes,  picking  the  ripe  red 
berries  into  baskets,  and  carrying  them  to  the  cars  which 
are  to  take  them  to  the  factories  on  the  plantation. 

On  our  way  over  the  estate  we  see  long  rows  of  one-story 
houses  and  near  them  large  buildings  which  look  like  ma- 
chine shops.  The  small  houses  are  the  homes  of  the  laborers 
on  the  estate.  The  big  buildings  are  the  places  in  which 
the  coffee  seeds  are  taken  out  of  the  berries  and  prepared 
for  the  markets.  They  contain  the  machinery  which  ex- 
tracts the  seeds,  and  near  them  are  the  drying  floors,  great 
fields  paved  with  cement,  upon  wliich  the  coffee  beans  are 
dried  in  the  sun  after  they  are  taken  out  of  the  berries. 

But  first  let  us  see  how  the  seeds  are  extracted.  There 
are  some  berries  which  have  just  come  in  from  the  fields. 
Take  up  one  and  look  at  it.  It  is  just  like  a  cherry  and 
almost  as  soft.  Just  inside  the  skin  is  a  pulp  and  within 
this  are  two  half-round  coffee  beans  with  their  flat  sides 
touching  each  other.  Take  out  the  seeds.  They  are  white, 
not  green  like  the  coffee  of  commerce.  Bite  one  of  them 
and  you  will  find  that  it  has  two  skins.  The  outer  one  is 
white  and  like  parchment,  and  the  inner  is  as  thin  as  the 
thinnest  of  fine  tissue  paper.  The  outer  skin  is  called  the 
parchment  skin  and  the  inner  the  silver  skin,  for  it  is  much 
like  silver  spun  out  like  a  cobweb.  Both  these  skins  must 
be  taken  off  before  the  coffee  can  be  sent  to  our  markets. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF   COFFEE 


299 


The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  get  rid  of  the  pulp.  For 
this  purpose  the  berries  are  thrown  into  a  hopper,  and  run 
through  machines  that  squash  the  pulp  without  hurting 
the  seeds.  By  these  machines  the  berries  are  reduced  to 
a  mush  of  pulp  and  seeds.     The  mush  is  now  carried  over 


A  street  in  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil.     This  is  the  metropolis  of  the  coffee 

country. 


a  long  copper  cylinder  in  which  there  are  hundreds  of  holes, 
each  big  enough  for  a  coffee  bean  to  pass  through.  As  the 
mush  falls  upon  the  cylinder  the  beans  drop  through  the 
holes  and  are  carried  into  a  little  canal,  from  which  they 
float  off  in  great  vats.  They  are  next  scoured  clean  in  a 
tank  in  which  a  screw  moves  round  and  round  among  the 
beans,  leaving  them  at  the  end  as  white  as  snow.     The  next 


?oo 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


process  is  drying.  The  beans  are  spread  out  upon  plat- 
forms and  left  in  the  sun  for  several  weeks  until  they  have 
become  as  dry  as  a  bone.  They  are  carefully  watched  at 
this  time  and  covered  at  night  and  when  it  rains  so  that 
they  may  not  get  wet.  Men  stir  them  with  wooden  rakes 
so  that  they  mav  be  evenly  dried. 


Public  school  near  Sao  Paulo. 


This  requires  great  care,  but  it  is  by  no  means  all  that 
must  be  done  before  the  coffee  is  ready  for  sale.  Each  Httle 
bean  must  be  undressed,  as  it  were.  Its  parchment  coat 
must  be  taken  off  and  its  silver-skin  underclothes  removed 
so  that  it  may  be  sent  out  in  its  olive-green  nakedness  to 
our  markets.  To  do  this  the  beans  are  thrown  into  ma- 
chines that  break  the  skins.  They  are  next  run  through 
fanning  mills  by  which  the  skins  are  blown  out  in  the  form 
of  chaff,  and  the  coffee  seeds  run  out  by  themselves. 


A   CITY  OF   SNAKES  301 

The  seeds  are  of  different  sizes,  some  large  and  some  small, 
some  round  and  some  almost  flat.  They  must  be  graded 
before  they  are  ready  for  shipment.  This  is  done  by  pass- 
ing them  over  a  series  of  sieves  in  which  are  holes  of  differ- 
ent sizes,  so  that  the  grains  of  each  size  flow  out  through 
different  pipes  into  bags  ready  to  be  shipped  to  the 
markets. 

We  spend  some  time  in  going  about  among  the  laborers 
on  the  estate.  Many  of  them  are  Itahans  who  have  taken 
the  place  of  the  negro  slaves,  who  were  the  coffee  workers 
of  Brazil  a  few  years  ago,  and  not  a  few  come  over  the  ocean 
only  for  a  season,  going  back  when  the  coffee  is  picked. 

The  plantation  is  carefully  managed.  It  has  its  over- 
seers, bookkeepers,  and  accountants,  who  try  to  see  that 
nothing  goes  to  waste.  There  is  a  large  store  where  the 
laborers  can  buy  food,  and  it  has  its  own  bakery,  foundry, 
and  sawmill.  It  is,  indeed,  a  little  world  of  its  own,  which 
has  grown  up  here  in  the  heart  of  South  America  to  pro- 
duce the  coffee  we  drink  at  our  meals. 


o»Cc 


XLI.     A   CITY   OF    SNAKES  — SOME   WILD 
ANIMALS   OF   BRAZIL 

DURING  our  stay  in  Sao  Paulo  we  motor  out  to  Butan- 
tan  to  see  the  city  of  snakes.  Yes,  a  city  of 
snakes,  a  live  flesh-and-blood  city  whose  inhabitants  are 
venomous  reptiles !  The  city  was  built  for  the  snakes. 
Its  houses  are  of  concrete.  They  are  of  the  shape  of  old- 
fashioned  beehives  and  of  about  the  same  size.  The  city 
is  surrounded  by  a  Uttle  wall  of  concrete  and  a  deep  moat 
of  water  where  the  reptiles  can  swim  about.     The  snakes 


^02  SOUTH  AMERICA 

are  caught  in  the  forests  and  brought  here  in  order  that  they 
may  be  studied ;  also  that  their  poison  may  be  used  to 
inoculate  horses  and  thereby  produce  a  serum  or  medicine, 
which  forms  an  antidote  to  cure  the  bite  of  a  snake  upon 
human  beings. 

The  institution  makes  medicine  not  only  for  snake  bites 
but  for  diphtheria,  lockjaw,  plagues  of  many  kinds,  and 
various  other  diseases.  It  has  already  sent  out  many 
thousands  of  tubes  of  anti-snake  medicine  and  has  had  tens 
of  thousands  of  snakes  of  many  varieties. 

Such  medicines  are  much  needed  in  Brazil.  The  country 
has  many  poisonous  snakes  and  there  are  hundreds  of  deaths 
from  them  every  year.  The  snakes  upon  which  the  experi- 
ments are  made  are  sent  in  by  the  farmers,  each  man  receiv- 
ing a  tube  of  the  serum  for  every  snake  he  sends  in.  The 
horses  inoculated  with  the  poison  are  at  first  given  very 
small  doses,  which  are  gradually  increased.  At  the  end  of 
the  year  a  horse  may  carry  enough  venom  in  his  blood  to 
kill  two  thousand  horses  that  have  not  been  treated  at  all. 
The  blood  of  such  a  horse  can  be  used  to  make  the  anti- 
poisonous  medicine. 

The  director  of  the  institution,  who  might  be  called  the 
mayor  of  the  snake  city,  takes  us  about  and  shows  us  its 
curious  inhabitants.  He  tells  us  there  are  two  famiHes 
of  snakes  here  which  are  very  dangerous ;  one  is  the  rattle- 
snake and  the  other  the  jararaca,  the  latter  having  a  bite 
so  poisonous  that  it  will  kill  a  man  or  animal  within  a  few 
moments.  He  afterwards  brings  forth  a  mussurama,  an- 
other snake  which  is  not  at  all  poisonous,  but  which  is  the 
chief  enemy  of  the  jararaca.  The  two  snakes  are  of  nearly 
the  same  size,  each  being  about  five  feet  in  length.  He  tells 
us  that  the  mussurama  is  a  good  snake,  and  allows  us  to 
handle  it. 


A  CITY  OF  SNAKES  303 

Later,  the  director  puts  the  two  snakes  upon  a  large  table 
to  show  us  how  the  good  snake  is  able  to  fight  and  kill  the 
bad  one.  For  a  moment  the  two  snakes  appear  to  take  no 
notice  of  each  other.  Then  the  mussurama  makes  a  leap 
for  the  jararaca  and  grabs  it  by  the  neck  just  back  of  its 
head.  The  jararaca  is  not  able  to  reach  its  enemy,  for 
the  mussurama  keeps  the  grip  on  its  neck.  It  holds  the 
jararaca  as  in  a  vice,  twisting  it  slowly  from  one  side  to 
the  other  until  its  neck  is  broken  and  it  is  practically 
dead. 

It  does  not  seem  dead,  however,  for  its  coils  keep  twisting 
this  way  and  that.  The  mussurama  now  loosens  its  grip 
on  the  neck,  takes  the  head  of  the  dying  snake  in  its  mouth, 
and  begins  to  swallow  it  slowly.  First  the  head  disappears, 
and  then,  inch  by  inch,  the  body,  until  at  last  the  whole 
of  the  jararaca  has  gone  inside  the  mussurama,  which  darts 
out  its  tongue  as  though  asking  for  more.  The  author  has 
witnessed  several  such  fights  and  in  each  case  the  bad  snake 
was  swallowed  by  the  good  one  without  any  injury  to  the 
latter  from  its  enemy's  poisonous  fangs. 

As  we  continue  our  travels  through  Brazil  we  shall  learn 
more  about  the  snakes  and  other  reptiles  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  country.  The  Amazon  valley  has  the  anaconda 
or  water  boa  and  the  boa  constrictor.  The  anaconda 
spends  much  of  its  time  in  the  water  and  often  lies  coiled 
in  the  branches  of  trees  above  the  streams,  waiting  to  prey 
upon  the  wild  animals  which  come  down  to  drink.  Stories 
are  told  of  its  killing  and  eating  cattle,  horses,  and  jaguars ; 
but  it  probably  eats  only  small  specimens  of  these  animals, 
its  more  common  food  consisting  of  rats,  peccaries,  birds, 
fishes,  and  reptiles.  The  author  has  the  skin  of  an  anaconda 
killed  in  the  Amazon  valley  during  his  stay  in  South 
America.    It  is  about  twenty  feet  long,  and  the  snake  from 


304  SOUTH   AMERICA 

which  it  came  was  large  enough  to  have  swallowed  a  two- 
or  three-year-old  baby.  The  skin  of  one  of  the  same  species 
of  snakes,  which  is  twenty-nine  feet  long,  is  shown  in  the 
British  museum  at  London.  The  boa  constrictor  is  smaller 
than  the  anaconda,  being  seldom  more  than  twelve  feet 
in  length.  It  is  a  beautiful  serpent,  having  a  brown  skin 
changing  to  a  brick  red  at  the  tail,  with  tan-colored  spots 
on  the  back.  It  seizes  its  prey  with  its  teeth  and  then  winds 
its  body  around  it,  gradually  squeezing  it  to  death. 

Brazil  has  many  alligators,  also  turtles  of  enormous  size. 
The  coast  and  river  waters  swarm  with  live  things,  and  it 
is  said  that  the  Amazon  and  its  tributaries  have  almost  two 
thousand  species  of  fish.  The  country  is  full  of  insects 
and  butterflies.  There  are  seventeen  hundred  different 
kinds  of  birds,  ranging  from  the  great  king  vulture  to 
the  tiny  humming  bird,  and  including  many  kinds  of 
parrots  and  the  long-billed  toucan.  Some  of  the  birds 
have  beautiful  feathers  and  they  are  caught  and  killed 
for  their  plumage,  which  is  used  to  decorate  hats  and 
bonnets. 

The  wild  beasts  of  Brazil  are  similar  to  those  we  have  al- 
ready seen  in  our  travels.  Many  tapirs  are  found  in  the 
wilds,  while  jaguars  and  pumas  infest  the  forested  valleys. 
There  are  also  foxes  and  raccoons,  twelve  species  of  opossums 
and  six  of  porcupines,  as  well  as  sloths,  armadillos,  and  ant- 
eaters.  There  are  deer  and  wild  hogs  and  more  than  fifty 
species  of  monkeys,  some  of  which  fill  the  forest  with  the 
noise  of  their  howKng.  We  shall  see  many  of  these  animals 
as  we  travel  up  the  great  rivers  and  especially  during  our 
stay  in  the  Amazon  valley. 


RIO   DE  JANEIRO  305 

XLII.     RIO   DE   JANEIRO 

WE  are  again  on  board  ship  this  morning.  We  have 
gone  back  to  Santos  and  taken  the  steamer  for 
Rio,  and  are  now  sailing  into  its  wonderful  harbor. 
We  might  have  traveled  from  Sao  Paulo  to  Rio  by  rail, 
but  we  wish  to  pass  through  this  harbor,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  whole  world.  It  has  been  compared  to 
the  Golden  Horn  at  Constantinople ;  the  author  has  seen 
both  places  and  he  thinks  the  Bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  far  the 
finer.  The  harbor  is  so  large  that  all  the  ships  of  the  world 
could  be  anchored  in  it  at  one  time. 

About  the  bay,  just  a  little  back  from  its  shores,  rise  the 
Organ  Mountains,  covered  with  the  rich  green  of  the  tropics. 
One  of  the  hills  looks  like  a  hunchback,  and  the  people  have 
called  it  the  ''Corcovado"  (kor-ko-va'doo) ,  a  Portuguese 
word  meaning  hunchback.  Its  top  is  more  than  a  half- 
mile  above  the  city  and  a  little  railroad  goes  up  it.  Another 
hill  has  a  summit  much  like  the  round  head  of  a  man.  the 
trees  upon  it  resembhng  the  hair  on  the  head.  Other  forms 
remind  us  of  battlements  and  forts ;  all  together  making  a 
great  wall  of  green  about  the  harbor. 

We  enter  at  the  smaller  end  of  the  bay,  going  in  through 
a  narrow  channel  between  two  forts.  On  one  side  of  us  is 
the  "Sugar  Loaf,"  a  mountain  shaped  like  a  cone.  It  rises 
almost  straight  from  the  sea  to  a  height  greater  than  that 
of  the  Eiffel  Tower  at  Paris.  On  the  opposite  side  are 
islands  so  close  that  at  a  distance  we  fear  we  may  graze 
the  shore  as  we  steam  in. 

Now  we  have  passed  through  the  entrance.  We  are  in 
a  land-locked  sea,  upon  which  scores  of  little  islands  are 
seemingly  floating,  and  in  front  of  us  under  the  hills,  rest- 
ing apparently  upon  the  water,  is  the  red-and-white  city  of 


3o6 


RIO  DE  JANEIRO  307 

Rio  de  Janeiro.  It  seems  to  be  looking  at  us  through  the 
masts  of  the  steamers  anchored  in  front  of  the  town. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  is  one  of  the  old  cities  of  our  hemisphere. 
It  has  grown  up  here  because  of  its  excellent  harbor  where 
goods  can  be  landed  easily  and  carried  by  railroad  to  in- 
terior Brazil. 

Let  us  stop  a  moment  before  going  on  shore  while  I  tell 
you  its  history.  It  is  always  important  to  know  just  what 
names  mean,  for  from  the  name  of  a  place  we  can  often 
learn  something  of  its  origin.  It  is  so  with  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
The  harbor  was  discovered  just  ten  years  after  Columbus 
landed  in  America.  At  that  time  navigators  from  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Europe  were  sailing  across  the  Atlantic  to 
find  out  all  about  the  New  World. 

Among  them  were  two  men  named  Joao  Manoel 
(zho-oun'  ma-nwal')  and  Americus  Vespucius.  They  sailed 
along  the  coast  of  Brazil  in  1 501  and  when  they  came  by  the 
"Sugar  Loaf"  into  the  bay  where  we  now  are  they  thought 
they  were  entering  a  river  and  so  called  it  "Rio,"  which 
in  Portuguese  means  river.  The  day  was  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary, which  suppHed  the  latter  part  of  the  name  —  "River 
of  January,"  Rio  de  Janeiro.  It  was  afterwards  discovered 
that  it  was  not  a  river  at  all ;  for  although  about  twenty 
small  rivers  flow  down  the  mountains  into  the  harbor,  its 
waters  are  an  arm  of  the  sea. 

About  fifty  years  later  the  first  settlement  was  made. 
The  city  was  slow  in  growing.  Bahia,  farther  north,  was 
nearer  Europe  and  for  a  long  time  much  more  important, 
and  it  was  not  until  1808  that  the  harbor  of  Rio  was  opened 
to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  It  was  then  found  to  be  a 
much  better  gate  to  southern  and  central  Brazil  and  it  be- 
came the  chief  port  of  the  country.  Since  that  time  Rio 
has  steadily  grown  and  is  now  the  capital  of  the  republic. 


RIO  DE  JANEIRO  309 

It  is  next  to  Buenos  Aires  in  size  and  importance  among 
the  cities  of  South  America. 

As  we  land  at  the  wharves  we  are  surrounded  by  steamers 
from  Europe  and  the  United  States.  Gangs  of  laborers, 
both  negroes  and  whites,  are  busy  loading  and  unloading 
boats.  Some  of  the  ships  taking  on  coffee  are  from  Ham- 
burg, Liverpool,  and  Lisbon,  and  others  are  loading  for 
New  York,  Baltimore,  and  New  Orleans.  There  are  many 
steamers  discharging  all  sorts  of  goods  for  the  city  and  the 
interior  of  Brazil.  The  vessel  next  ours  is  taking  off  a  cargo 
of  jerked  meat  from  the  beef  factories  of  Uruguay.  The 
meat  is  in  bags  and  the  men  carry  them  out  on  their  heads. 
Near  by  is  a  vessel  from  Maine  filled  with  pine  lumber,  and 
next  a  tank  steamer  containing  coal  oil  that  a  short  time 
ago  was  under  the  ground  in  our  Oklahoma  oil  regions. 

Now  we  have  entered  the  chief  coffee-exporting  section. 
There  is  coffee  everywhere.  The  streets  are  walled  with 
warehouses  in  which  we  see  coffee  piled  up  by  the  thousands 
of  bags.  We  can  hardly  get  along  on  the  sidewalk  on  ac- 
count of  the  men  unloading  the  wagons  and  motor-trucks. 
Scores  of  half-naked  men  are  carrying  the  bags  into  the 
warehouses,  and  dozens  of  negro  women  are  down  on  their 
knees,  sweeping  the  stray  coffee  beans  out  of  the  cobble- 
stones of  the  street  that  they  may  wash  and  sell  them  again. 
The  building  at  our  right  is  a  coffee  factory,  and  that  hum 
comes  from  the  machines  which  are  cleaning  the  beans  for 
the  market.  Next  door  is  the  ofhce  of  an  exporting  house 
which  ships  coffee  to  New  York,  and  farther  on  are  the 
commission  houses  which  buy  coffee  to  sell  to  shippers. 
The  scenes  remind  us  of  Santos.  The  air  smells  of  coffee, 
and  we  realize  that  we  are  in  the  second  of  the  two  great 
coffee  ports  of  the  world. 

We  have  already  learned  how  important  the  coffee  crop 


3IO 


MORE  ABOUT  RIO  311 

IS  to  Brazil.  It  is  the  chief  money  crop  of  the  country  and 
almost  half  of  it  comes  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  be  shipped. 
Here  also  are  the  stores  which  supply  the  coffee  planters 
with  goods,  so  that  through  coffee  Rio  de  Janeiro  has  to  a 
large  extent  become  the  great  city  it  is. 

We  spend  some  time  in  the  coffee  section  and  then  take 
taxicabs  for  a  short  ride  through  the  city.  Rio  de  Janeiro  is 
too  big  to  be  seen  in  a  day.  It  covers  about  nine  square 
miles, extending  from  the  harbor  back  to  the  hills.  The  streets 
go  up  hill  and  down.  They  cross  one  another  at  all  sorts 
of  angles,  and  we  are  unable  to  keep  the  points  of  the  com- 
pass as  we  are  whirled  this  way  and  that  until  we  come  to 
our  hotel  in  the  wide  Avenida  Rio  Branco. 


o-HHc 


XLIII.     MORE   ABOUT   RIO 

WE  shall  take  an  interpreter  with  us  this  morning. 
The  Spanish  we  have  learned  in  the  South  American 
capitals  will  be  of  little  use  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  for 
the  people  here  speak  Portuguese.  Rio  is  the  largest  Por- 
tuguese-speaking city  of  the  world. 

We  first  motor  through  the  city  to  get  a  general  idea  of 
its  various  features.  The  main  street  is  the  Avenida  Rio 
Branco.  It  is  more  than  a  mile  long  and  one  hundred  feet 
wide.  It  is  paved  with  asphalt,  and  beds  of  flowers  and 
rows  of  trees  run  through  its  center.  Its  wide  sidewalks 
are  made  of  black  and  white  flint  laid  in  patterns,  and  back 
of  them  are  magnificent  stores  and  office  buildings  lining 
the  street  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

From  this  avenue  we  pass  into  other  magnificent  boule- 
vards, upon  which  are  beautiful  buildings,  and  we  are  told 


312  SOUTH   AMERICA 

that  the  greater  part  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  has  been  torn  down 
and  rebuilt  within  the  past  few  years.  The  city  is  now  one 
of  the  finest  of  the  world,  and  has  many  miles  of  drives  Hned 
with  narrow  parks  filled  with  tropical  trees  and  flowers. 
It  was  once  a  pest  hole  of  yellow  fever  and  other  tropical 
diseases,  but  it  is  now  kept  very  clean.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  healthful  cities  near  the  equator. 

We  spend  some  time  in  the  business  parts  of  the  city. 
There  are  well-dressed  men  everywhere.  Rio  has  many 
rich  citizens  and  the  streets  are  thronged  with  buyers  and 
sellers.  The  crowd  is  a  strange  one  and  contains  people 
of  all  the  nations,  including  our  own.  We  see  the  faces  of 
ItaHans,  Portuguese,  Spaniards,  French,  BraziUans,  and 
English.  There  are  professional  men  dressed  in  black  with 
tall  hats,  and  merchants  in  business  suits  of  white  linen. 
There  are  Italian  vegetable  peddlers  with  baskets  fastened 
to  poles  on  their  shoulders,  and  half -naked  porters  with  loads 
on  their  heads.  There  are  bareheaded  women  and  smartly 
dressed  boys  moving  to  and  fro,  forming  all  together  such 
a  human  mixture  as  you  will  see  nowhere  else  upon  earth. 

Now  we  have  left  the  business  section  and  are  passing 
through  the  side  streets.  How  many  peddlers  there  are ! 
Nearly  all  the  hucksters  of  Rio  carry  their  vegetables, 
fruits,  and  fish  from  house  to  house  on  their  shoulders  or 
heads  instead  of  in  carts  or  on  donkeys.  Here  comes  a 
man  selUng  fish.  He  has  two  baskets  fastened  to  the  ends 
of  a  pole  resting  on  his  shoulders.  Behind  him  trots  a  man 
loaded  down  with  long  strings  of  onions.  He  has  stopped 
at  that  house  over  there  and  is  selling  a  string  to  the  cook. 

There  is  another  queer  character.  I  mean  the  man  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street  who  is  clapping  two  sticks 
together.  The  door  opens  and  a  woman  asks  him  to  enter. 
That  man  sells  dry  goods  and  notions  from  house  to  house. 


MORE  ABOUT   RIO  313 

His  sticks  are  a  part  of  his  yard  measure  and  that  clapping 
is  a  sign  of  his  trade.  Many  of  the  women  do  not  Uke  to 
go  to  the  stores,  preferring  to  buy  their  goods  of  peddlers 
like  him. 

And  so  we  go  on,  now  accosted  by  boys  selling  papers, 
and  now  by  peddlers  with  candies  and  fruit.  The  strangest 
sights  of  all  are  the  porters  who  carry  huge  loads  on  their 
heads.  There  goes  one  with  a  box  that  must  weigh  two 
hundred  pounds.  Behind  him  is  a  group  of  eight  negroes 
who  are  moving  along  with  a  huge  crate  above  them.  The 
crate  contains  a  piano  and  they  are  carrying  it  on  their 
heads  from  one  part  of  the  town  to  another. 

How  many  of  the  people  are  barefooted !  Most  of  the 
working  classes  wear  no  shoes  or  stockings,  and  we  see  bare- 
footed carpenters  and  masons  going  about  clad  only  in  hat, 
shirt,  and  trousers.  The  common  clothing  is  cotton,  for 
Rio  is  warm. 

Here  are  some  children  going  to  school.  Some  of  them 
carry  portfolios  and  some  have  bags  for  their  school  books. 
The  girls  are  bareheaded  and  barefooted.  Some  of  the 
boys  wear  hats  or  caps.  It  is  only  the  children  of  the  well- 
to-do  who  wear  shoes. 

We  visit  the  market.  It  lies  on  the  edge  of  the  harbor 
so  that  the  fish  and  vegetables  can  come  in  by  boat.  The 
buildings  cover  six  or  eight  acres,  forming  a  little  market 
city  which  is  divided  by  streets  into  blocks,  each  of  which 
has  its  own  merchandise.  One  block  may  be  devoted  to 
vegetables  and  fruits,  another  to  meat,  and  another  to 
butter  and  cheese.  One  is  taken  up  by  the  sellers  of  live 
animals.  Here  are  cages  of  dogs,  large  and  small,  and  pens 
filled  with  rabbits  and  guinea  pigs.  There  are  also  cages 
of  monkeys  and  birds.  Some  of  the  monkeys  are  as  big 
as  a  collie  dog  and  others  not  so  large  as  a  kitten  just  born. 


314 


MORE  ABOUT  RIO  315 

The  smallest  are  called  marmosets.  They  are  a  sort  of 
squirrel  monkey,  and  have  long  tails  and  tufts  of  gray  hair 
over  their  ears.  We  can  buy  a  pair  for  two  dollars.  There 
are  also  screaming  parrots  and  parrakeets  and  sweet-singing 
birds. 

During  our  stay  in  Rio  we  visit  the  Monroe  Peace  Palace 
named  after  our  President  Monroe,  which  stands  at  one 
end  of  the  great  Central  Avenue,  and  then  drive  out  to  the 
parks.  The  parks  are  everywhere  in  and  about  the  city, 
and  we  can  tell  their  locations  by  the  royal  palms  which 
rise  high  above  the  rest  of  the  vegetation,  and  with  quiver- 
ing branches  wave  us  an  invitation  to  enter.  We  are  in 
the  tropics  and  the  plants  of  our  hothouses  are  to  be  found 
here  growing  wild. 

We  take  a  street-car  and  ride  for  seven  miles  along  the 
bay,  by  the  residences  of  rich  Brazihans,  to  the  botanical 
garden.  This  has  plants  and  trees  from  all  parts  of  Brazil. 
It  has  some  of  the  most  wonderful  palms  of  the  world.  As 
we  enter  the  gate  we  come  into  an  avenue  of  palms,  each 
as  high  as  an  eight-story  house,  although  not  more  than  a 
yard  in  diameter  at  the  ground.  There  are  more  than  a 
hundred  of  these  magnificent  trees  walling  the  avenue. 
They  are  symmetrical  shafts  of  silver  gray  that  shoot  out 
at  the  top  into  a  canopy  of  fernlike  green  leaves.  The 
avenue  is  not  wider  than  an  alley,  and  we  seem  to  be  walking 
between  two  files  of  giant  soldiers,  the  plumes  on  their  hats 
quivering  in  the  breeze  high  above  us  and  almost  shutting 
out  the  blue  of  the  sky. 

Later  we  make  tours  over  the  little  railroads  wliich  run 
from  Rio  de  Janeiro  up  into  the  mountains.  They  are  just 
like  the  ones  we  have  on  Mount  Washington  and  Pikes 
Peak,  and  one  way  up  the  mountains  is  through  wonders  of 
tropical  scenery.     We  go  over  ravines  hundreds    of    feet 


3i6  SOUTH  AMERICA 

deep  and  crawl  about  mountain  walls  more  than  a  thousand 
feet  high.  Now  we  seem  to  cling  to  the  sides  of  the  rock  and 
again  high  walls  of  rock  hang  over  us  and  we  tremble  as 
we  think  they  might  fall. 

The  air  here  is  moist  and  at  times  we  are  riding  through 

clouds.     As  we  go  higher  we  have  magnificent  views  of  the 

city  and  harbor,  and  on  the  top  of  the  Corcovado,  we  stand 

upon  a  rocky  peak  amid  some  of  the  grandest  views  of  the 

I  world. 

The  great  city  of  Rio  and  its  beautiful  harbor  are  just 
below  us  but  so  far  down  that  the  houses  look  no  bigger 
than  dog  kennels,  as  they  lie  there  skirting  the  water.  The 
sea  beyond  has  become  a  bed  of  sapphire  under  the  rays  of  the 
sun,  and  upon  it  are  rocky  islands  of  curious  shapes,  while 
all  about  rise  mountain  upon  mountain  and  hill  upon  hill. 

See  those  four  ocean  steamers  sailing  in  single  file  by 
the  "Sugar  Loaf"  out  to  the  sea.  They  look  like  canoes 
at  this  distance,  but  they  are  really  great  steamers  loaded 
with  coffee  for  New  York,  Liverpool,  Havre,  and  Auckland, 
New  Zealand.  The  last  vessel  will  pass  through  the  Strait 
of  Magellan  and  go  almost  half  around  the  world  before  it 
reaches  its  haven. 

1.  What  is  the  chief  business  of  Santos?  Trace  a  cargo  of  coffee 
from  there  to  New  York  ;  to  Hamburg  ;   to  Naples. 

2.  Locate  Sao  Paulo.     For  what  is  it  noted  ? 

3.  What  are  the  chief  coffee  countries  of  the  world?  Of  South 
America?  (See  Table  XIV.)  From  what  country  do  we  get 
most  of  our  coffee?  Describe  a  plantation.  Tell  how  the  plants 
are  grown  and  the  seeds  prepared  for  the  market.  (See  Carpenter's 
"How  the  World  is  Fed,"  chapter  41.) 

4.  Mention  some  wild  animals  of  Brazil.  Tell  about  your  visit 
to  the  city  of  snakes.     Why  was  it  established? 

5.  Locate  the  capital  of  Brazil.  How  did  it  get  its  name? 
Describe  its  harbor.     Mention  one    of   its    chief   exports.     If  you 


An  avenue  of  palms  loo  feet  higli,  which  arc   as  straight   iiud  uni- 
form as  tclegrap:)h  poles,  with  plumy  tops  like  parasols. 


317 


3i8 


BAHIA  319 

had   your   choice   of   the  goods   in    the    market    what    would    you 
take? 

6.  Take  a  motor  trip  through  the  city  and  tell  what  you  see. 

7.  What  public  building  of  Rio  was  named  after  one  of  our  presi- 
dents? 

8.  Trace  each  of  the  four  steamers  mentioned  to  the  port  for 
which  it  is  bound.  How  far  is  it  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  New  York  ? 
To  Liverpool  ? 

»0j«<00 

XLIV.     BAHIA 

WE  are  in  Bahia  to-day.  For  three  days  we  have 
sailed  north  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  on  our  slow 
coasting  steamer  and  have  come  to  anchor  in  the  great 
"Bay  of  All  Saints,"  under  the  bluffs  on  which  most 
of  the  city  is  built.  These  bluffs  rise  for  two  hundred 
feet  almost  straight  from  the  water,  having  only  a  narrow 
strip  of  land  between  them  and  the  sea.  Upon  this  strip 
are  the  wholesale  importing  and  exporting  houses  and  on 
the  bluff  are  tall,  bright-colored  buildings  shaded  by  feathery 
palms  that  quiver  in  the  breeze.  The  bluff  is  so  abrupt 
that  electric  elevators  have  been  built  to  take  the  people 
from  one  part  of  the  town  to  the  other,  for  it  is  difficult  to 
cUmb  the  steep  roadway  up  the  hills. 

Bahia  is  almost  as  large  as  Seattle,  and  is  the  third  city 
of  Brazil.  It  has  a  fine  harbor  with  a  beautiful  driveway 
along  the  shore  and  broad  asphalt  highways  on  the  bluffs. 
The  town  is  of  great  commercial  importance,  ha\ing  fine 
stores  and  great  factories.  It  is  progressive  and  is  noted 
for  its  hospitals  and  schools. 

The  bay  is  one  of  the  best  harbors  of  all  South  America. 
It  has  an  entrance  three  miles  in  width,  and  the  harbor  has 
been  improved  by  breakwaters  and  quays  costing  many 


320  SOUTH   AMERICA 

millions  of  dollars.  It  is  equipped  with  electric  cranes  and 
all  modern  landing  facilities.  The  principal  imports  are 
coal  and  coke,  iron  and  steel,  wheat  and  flour,  dried  cod- 
fish, machinery,  and  cotton  goods.  The  chief  exports  are 
cacao,  tobacco,  coffee,  rubber,  and  manganese. 

There  are  now  more  than  a  score  of  ocean  steamers,  many 
coasting  ships,  and  hundreds  of  small  boats  at  anchor  in 
the  bay.  The  vessels  have  swung  with  the  tide  and  their 
prows  are  turned  toward  the  city,  so  that  we  can  easily 
imagine  them  a  great  naval  fleet  coming  in  to  capture  Bahia. 
Bahia  is  one  of  the  oldest  South  American  cities.  More 
than  half  a  century  before  Boston  was  founded  it  had  fif- 
teen thousand  people,  and  for  two  hundred  years  thereafter 
it  was  the  capital  of  Brazil.  It  continued  to  lead  until  coffee 
began  to  be  raised  farther  south,  when  Rio  de  Janeiro  and 
Sao  Paulo  surpassed  it. 

For  many  years  Bahia  was  the  chief  center  for  the  slave 
trade  of  Brazil.  It  was  the  port  nearest  Africa  and  the 
negroes  were  kidnaped  and  carried  across  the  Atlantic 
into  this  bay.  So  many  were  brought  that  by  the  year  1800 
more  than  half  the  people  of  Brazil  were  slaves.  That  was 
not  a  long  time  ago,  and  as  we  land  upon  the  wharves  we 
notice  that  there  are  far  more  colored  people  than  whites 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  city.  Negro  women  go  about 
peddling  bananas,  or  sit  upon  the  streets  with  piles  of  fruit 
about  them ;  negro  men  are  loading  and  unloading  the 
steamer,  carrying  huge  bags  and  bundles  on  their  heads ; 
and  in  the  narrow  side  streets  little  black  babies,  almost  as 
naked  as  when  they  were  born,  are  crawhng  over  the  cobble- 
stones. There  is  a  boy  of  eight  playing  horse.  He  has  a 
little  stick  between  his  legs  and  is  going  on  the  gallop,  al- 
though he  has  not  a  stitch  of  clothing  on  him. 

Here  come  three  Africans  now.    Listen  to  that  laugh. 


BAHIA 


321 


It  reminds  us  of  the  jolly  good  nature  of  our  dark-skinned 
Americans.  Let  us  stop  here  on  the  corner  and  hear  the 
fun  as  they  pass.  That  man  on  the  left  has  said  something 
funny  and  his  fel- 
lows are  shouting 
with  laughter. 
Why  don't  we 
laugh?  He  is  speak- 
ing quite  loudly, 
but  though  we  hear 
what  he  says  we 
cannot  see  the  joke. 
He  is  speaking  in 
Portuguese,  the 
language  used  by 
both  colored  and 
whites  in  Brazil. 

As  we  continue 
our  travels  through 
Brazil,  we  see  that 
the  races  have  in- 
termarried to  such 
an  extent  that  it  is 
hard  to  tell  who  are 
whites  and  who  are 
mulattoes.  The 
negroes  have  equal 
rights  with  the 
whites.      Many    of 

them  are  intelHgent  and  not  a  few  hold  important  positions. 
There  is  no  such  prejudice  against  the  colored  man  as  is 
found  in  our  southern  states.  We  meet  negro  men  and 
women  at  almost  every   hotel    table,  and   in   the  dining 


Negro  women  go  about  peddling  bananas. 


322  SOUTH  AMERICA 

room  of  the  steamers  there  are  as  many  colored  people  at 
the  table  as  whites. 

We  stop  during  our  journey  around  the  harbor  to  buy 
some  oranges  of  an  old  negro  woman.  They  are  navel 
oranges,  like  sorhe  of  the  finest  and  sweetest  we  have  from 
California.  As  we  eat  them  we  are  reminded  that  our  navel 
oranges  came  from  Bahia  in  the  shape  of  a  little  tree  that 
was  taken  from  here  to  the  city  of  Washington,  and  planted 
in  the  botanical  garden  there  more  than  a  half  century  ago. 
From  this  tree  grafts  were  sent  out  to  California  and  started 
the  first  navel  orange  orchards,  the  fruit  of  which  now  sells 
for  many  millions  of  dollars. 

We  spend  some  time  in  Bahia  visiting  its  cotton  and 
tobacco  factories.  The  tobacco  is  excellent  and  a  great 
deal  is  exported.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  city  we  see  cart- 
loads of  hides  and  bales  of  goatskins  brought  from  the 
country.  They  are  to  be  shipped  to  America  to  be  made 
into  shoes. 

In  going  through  the  factories  we  learn  that  Brazil  is 
rapidly  developing  industries  of  many  kinds.  The  repubhc 
is  agriculturally  and  minerally  rich  and  it  has  almost  all 
the  raw  materials  needed  for  manufacturing.  The  chief 
trouble  is  the  lack  of  fuel  to  make  steam.  So  far,  no  large 
deposits  of  coal  have  been  found,  but  the  country  has  a  vast 
amount  of  water  power  which  will  some  day  be  used  to  gen- 
erate electricity.  The  great  rivers  of  the  eastern  highlands 
pour  down  over  the  rocks  on  their  way  to  the  ocean,  and 
many  of  them  are  now  fighting  cities  and  towns,  running 
street-cars,  and  supplying  the  power  plants  of  various 
industries. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  is  lighted  by  a  little  river  in  the  Organ 
Mountains.  Sao  Paulo  gets  its  electric  power  from  the 
falls  of  the  Tiete  River,  and  not  very  far  from  Bahia  are 


We  are  reminded  that  our  navel  oranges  come  from  Bahia. 
3^3 


324  SOUTH   AMERICA 

the  falls  of  the  Paulo  Affonso  (af-fon'soo),  which  could 
generate  two  million  horse  power.  The  Paulo  Affonso  falls 
are  on  the  Sao  Francisco  River,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  from  its  mouth.  They  are  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  from  Bahia,  where  we  now  are.  The  river  has 
five  branches,  which  unite  above  the  falls  and  then  take 
a  mighty  leap  over  the  black  rocks  of  the  canon.  The 
country  surrounding  the  falls  is  such  that  it  may  one  day 
be  a  great  cotton  plantation  with  spinning  and  weaving 
mills  run  by  this  power. 

We  have  already  seen  the  falls  on  the  Iguassu  River  in 
southwestern  Brazil. 

The  Amazon  and  its  tributaries  have  fourteen  large 
waterfalls  having  enormous  electrical  possibilities,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  many  other  rivers  of  Brazil,  the  names  of 
which  hardly  are  known  outside  the  republic.  Altogether, 
there  are  said  to  be  fifty-one  great  waterfalls,  which  are 
capable,  of  producing  fifty  milHon  horse  power,  an  amount 
equaling  the  consumption  of  hundreds  of  milUons  of  tons 
of  coal  every  year. 

These  waterfalls  will  probably  be  used  to  run  the  rail- 
ways in  the  future.  Brazil  is  next  to  Argentina  in  the 
length  of  its  railways ;  although  as  yet  it  has  vast  terri- 
tories which  have  no  such  transportation.  The  country 
is  as  large  as  the  United  States  proper,  but  we  have  sixteen 
miles  of  railway  where  Brazil  has  but  one.  New  roads  are 
rapidly  building,  and  vast  tracts  of  new  land  are  being 
thrown  open  to  settlement. 

The  area  of  unexplored  land  is  reduced  each  year  by 
rubber  hunters,  scientists  who  are  studying  the  plants  of 
the  Amazon  valley,  and  new  settlers.  Brazil  has  en- 
couraged immigration  and  there  are  thousands  of  Spaniards, 
Italians,  Portuguese,  and  Germans  in  the  country. 


THE   MINES  OF   BRAZIL  325 

XLV.     THE   MINES   OF   BRAZIL  — 
DIAMONDS,   IRON,   AND    GOLD 

A  LARGE  country  like  Brazil  is  sure  to  have  many 
minerals.  We  appreciated  how  true  this  is  when 
we  visited  the  government  department  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  talked  with  the  geologists.  They  told  us  that  more 
than  six  hundred  milhon  dollars'  worth  of  gold  had  been 
taken  out  of  Brazil  prior  to  1820  and  that  one  half  of  this 
came  from  the  one  state  of  Minas  Geraes.  We  saw  some 
gold  when  we  were  travehng  through  Matto  Grosso.  and 
we  learn  that  gold  is  still  washed  from  the  tributaries 
of  the  Amazon.  Brazil  has  some  of  the  chief  iron  ore 
beds  of  the  world.  Iron  is  found  in  every  state  and 
there  are  billions  of  tons  in  deposits  which  will  some 
day  be  developed.  The  best  iron  mines  so  far  discov- 
ered are  in  Minas  Geraes,  the  same  state  from  which 
most  of  the  gold  has  come.  They  he  on  the  high  plateau, 
several  hundred  miles  from  the  seacoast  and  at  such 
a  place  that  the  ore  can  be  sent  down  to  the  steamers 
by  gravity. 

In  the  state  of  Minas  Geraes  are  the  largest  deposits  of 
manganese  of  the  world.  Manganese  is  a  metal  used  to 
mix  with  copper,  iron,  and  other  metals  to  make  them 
stronger  and  more  elastic.  We  imported  a  great  deal  of 
manganese  from  Brazil  during  the  World  War  for  the  mak- 
ing of  steel  for  our  arms  and  munitions. '  We  use  it  also 
in  glass  making  and  smelting. 

Brazil  has  many  precious  stones,  among  the  most  impor- 
tant of  which  is  the  diamond.  Until  the  South  African 
diamond  mines  were  discovered,  this  country  was  furnishing 
many  of  the  world's  finest  diamonds.  They  came  fromi 
Diamantina  (dya-man-te'na) ,  in  Minas  Geraes,  where  dia- 


326  SOUTH   AMERICA 

mond  mining  is  still  carried  on.  One  of  the  stones  was  the 
"Star  of  the  South,"  another  the  "Green  Diamond  of 
Dresden,"  and  a  third  the  "Star  of  Minas."  All  were  fa- 
mous stones,  and  each  was  worth  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. The  diamond  regions  are  far  back  from  the  seacoast 
and  more  than  a  mile  above  sea  level.  The  stones  are  found 
in  the  gravel  of  the  streams  and  sometimes  in  a  blue  clay 
•deposit  several  feet  thick.  The  South  African  diamonds 
also  are  found  in  blue  clay. 

As  far  back  as  1732  thirty  thousand  men  were  searching 
for  diamonds  in  Brazil  and  many  milHon  dollars'  worth  of 
fine  stones  were  found  and  sent  to  the  markets.  At  first 
the  work  was  done  largely  by  negro  slaves  under  guard, 
and  any  slave  who  found  a  gem  of  eighteen  carats  got  his 
freedom.  Later,  diamonds  were  found  in  Matto  Grosso 
and  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Paraguassu  (pa'ra-gwa-soo') 
River  some  distance  inland  from  the  city  of  Bahia. 

The  diamonds  of  the  latter  region  He  in  the  gravel  on  a 
bed  of  clay  at  the  bottom  of  the  river.  The  stream  is  deep, 
and  the  mining  is  usually  done  where  there  is  not  more  than 
twenty  feet  of  water  and  where,  owing  to  a  bend  in  the  river, 
the  current  is  not  strong. 

A  long  pole  is  first  driven  down  into  the  bed  of  the  stream. 
Two  miners  in  a  dugout  canoe  then  row  out  to  the  pole. 
One  man  remains  in  the  boat  and  the  other,  who  is  naked, 
dives  to  the  bottom.  The  diver  carries  a  big  bag,  the  mouth 
of  which  is  held  open  by  an  iron  hoop.  He  rests  the  hoop 
on  the  river  bed  and  scrapes  the  gravel  into  the  bag.  When 
it  is  filled  he  climbs  with  it  up  the  pole  to  the  boat.  He 
goes  down  again  and  again  for  more  gravel  and  when  the 
boat  is  loaded,  it  is  rowed  to  the  shore  and  its  contents  carried 
to  a  pile  some  distance  from  the  water.  The  work  is  con- 
tinued as  long  as  the  river  is  low,  the  washing  of  the  gravel 


ALONG  THE   COAST  OF   BRAZIL  327 

being  done  in  the  wet  season  when  the  floods  prevent  mining. 
At  that  time  the  gravel  is  picked  over  for  carbons  and  dia- 
monds and  often  many  bushels  of  gravel  have  to  be  washed 
before  a  single  stone  of  value  is  found. 

The  work  requires  great  care  and  patience,  but  one  little 
stone  may  give  the  miners  a  large  reward  for  a  whole  season's 
work.  When  the  mines  were  at  their  best  only  about  one 
diamond  a  week  was  discovered,  but  the  few  which  were 
found  brought  in  a  million  dollars  a  year  for  many  years. 

Almost  all  the  diamonds  now  being  discovered  in  Brazil 
are  small.  They  are  shipped  to  Europe  to  be  cut  for  jewelry 
or  made  into  tools  to  cut  glass  or  polish  other  hard  stones. 

Carbons  are  black  diamonds  which  are  used  for  fine  boring 
machines  and  for  poHshing  hard  substances.  They  are 
about  as  hard  as  diamonds  but  more  porous.  They  are 
found  in  all  sizes,  from  little  ones  as  small  as  a  grain  of  sand 
to  some  weighing  hundreds  of  carats.  A  carat  weighs  so 
little  that  it  takes  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  to  make 
one  ounce  troy.  It  is  the  measure  of  weight  for  precious 
stones  and  is  therefore  used  for  carbons.  Not  long  ago 
carbons  were  selling  for  twenty  dollars  a  carat,  or  so  much 
that  one  large  carbon  brought  twenty  thousand  dollars. 


o>»{c 


XLVI.     ALONG   THE   COAST  OF   BRAZIL 

OUR  travels  for  the  next  few  weeks  are  to  be  along  the 
coast  of  Brazil.  We  have  taken  a  Httle  Brazilian 
steamer  at  Bahia  for  Para,  the  great  port  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Amazon.  The  distance  looks  short  on  the  map,  but 
it  is  more  than  fifteen  hundred  miles,  and  as  we  shall  move 
slowly  along  from  port   to  port,  stopping  a  day  at  each 


ALONG   THE    COAST   OF   BR.'XZIL  329 

principal  city  to  load  and  unload,  it  will  take  several 
weeks. 

Our  first  stop  is  at  Recife  (ra-se'fa)  or,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  Pernambuco.  It  is  the  chief  port  and  capital  of 
the  state  of  Pernambuco.  The  word  "Recife"  means  reef, 
and  this  is  the  city  of  the  reef.  We  see  why  as  we  enter  the 
harbor,  which  is  formed  by  a  reef  or  tongue  of  rock 
that  extends  from  the  shore  two  or  three  miles  out  into  the 
sea,  half  inclosing  a  space  about  a  mile  wide  and  so  deep 
that  ocean  steamers  can  come  in  and  He  safely  at  anchor. 
The  rock  extends  out  like  a  wall  and  we  can  hardly  imagine 
that  it  was  not  all  built  by  man.  It  does  not  rise  high  above 
the  level  of  the  ocean,  but  its  height  is  sufficient,  with  the 
addition  of  the  low  wall  erected  upon  it,  to  prevent  the  waves 
from  coming  into  the  bay.  As  we  enter  there  is  a  heavy 
wind  from  the  east,  and  the  waves  seem  to  gnash  their  teeth 
as  they  throw  themselves  against  this  stone  wall,  sending 
up  masses  of  snow-white  foam  in  their  anger.  Our  ship 
has  been  rolling  about  on  the  ocean.  Inside  the  harbor  we 
lie  perfectly  quiet  and  there  is  hardly  a  ripple,  notwith- 
standing the  billows  outside. 

Recife  has  spent  many  million  dollars  in  building  jetties 
and  breakwaters,  and  it  is  now  a  fine  port.  It  has  electric 
cranes  to  unload  merchandise,  and  almost  a  thousand 
steamers  call  here  every  year.  It  is  the  first  port  at  which 
the  European  steamers  stop  after  leaving  Lisbon. 

The  state  of  Pernambuco  is  a  little  larger  than  New  York. 
It  produces  more  cotton  and  sugar  than  any  other  part  of 
Brazil,  and  it  has  many  cotton  and  sugar  mills.  The  cotton 
plantations  are  increasing  in  number  and  size,  and  they 
may  some  day  compete  with  those  of  our  cotton  belt. 
There  are  railways  connecting  the  interior  with  the  coast 
ports. 


33©  SOUTH   AMERICA 

We  land  and  take  street  cars,  being  carried  over  one 
bridge  after  another.  We  pass  motor  trucks  loaded  with 
cotton,  carts  pulled  by  oxen  in  shafts,  and  on  into  the  city. 
Recife  has  many  canals,  and  its  bridges  remind  us  of  Venice. 
Some  of  the  buildings  are  faced  with  porcelain  tiles  imported 
from  Europe.  Its  people  pride  themselves  on  their  enter- 
prise and  business  ability. 

At  Parahyba,  still  farther  north,  we  have  a  chance 
during  the  delay  of  the  steamer  to  take  a  railroad  ride 
into  the  interior.  The  train  takes  us  through  groves 
of  coconut  palms  and  by  plantations  of  cotton  and  sugar. 
The  vegetation  is  dense  in  many  places  and  we  see  strange 
birds  and  animals  in  the  trees.  The  parrots  screech  at  us, 
and  the  marmosets,  so  small  that  we  could  easily  carry  one 
in  a  pocket,  scamper  about  through  the  branches. 

Farther  back  from  the  coast  are  the  highlands  of  Brazil, 
and  a  little  farther  north  in  the  state  of  Ceara  (sa-a-ra'),  at 
the  port  of  which  we  next  stop,  the  country  is  almost  all 
high.  It  is  a  rolling  land  as  big  as  Ohio,  with  mountain 
chains  running  through  it. 

This  part  of  the  Brazilian  highlands  is  often  subject  to 
droughts.  When  there  is  plenty  of  rain  the  crops  are  rich 
and  everything  is  green  and  fresh,  but  during  a  long  dry 
spell  everything  is  as  bare  as  the  desert  of  Sahara.  Such 
times  do  not  often  occur,  but  when  they  do  many  of  the 
people  starve,  and  in  the  drought  of  1877  and  1878  more 
than  half  the  entire  population  died  of  famine. 

The  port  of  Ceara  has  one  of  the  worst  landing  places  on 
the  east  coast  of  South  America.  There  is  no  pier,  and 
we  are  carried  from  our  ship  to  the  shore  in  the  arms 
of  half -naked  men,  who  charge  us  each  eight  cents  a 
trip.  The  waves  are  rolHng  in  on  the  beach  as  we  go 
along  suspended  only  a  few  inches  above  the  water,  and 


ALONG  THE  "COAST  OF  BRAZIL  331 

we  tremble  at  what  might  happen  if  our  bearers  should  slip 
on  a  stone. 

Ceara  is  a  beautiful  city  of  seventy  thousand  or  more. 
It  has  bright-colored  houses,  clean  streets,  and  well-dressed 
people.  We  visit  the  market  to  learn  what  is  raised  in  the 
country.  We  then  take  donkeys  and  ride  through  the  city, 
with  time  for  a  jaunt  in  the  suburbs. 

The  street  scenes  are  interesting  and  every  turn  brings  a 
new  picture.  We  pass  men  and  women  carrying  all  kinds 
of  things  on  their  heads.  There  is  a  barefooted  negress 
walking  briskly  along  with  a  pumpkin  so  delicately  balanced 
on  her  head  that  it  does  not  roll  off,  and  behind  comes  a 
boy  carrying  a  two-bushel  bag  of  flour  the  same  way.  He 
has  stopped  there  at  that  fence  and  without  lowering  his 
head  or  touching  his  burden  has  lifted  his  leg  to  the  first 
board.  He  seems  to  be  searching  for  something  that  is 
biting  him. 

Here  comes  a  water  peddler  driving  a  donkey,  to  the  sides 
of  which  are  slung  four  five-gallon  casks.  Behind  him  is 
a  man  with  two  horses,  each  of  which  carries  a  load  of  wood. 
The  wood  is  fastened  to  the  sides  of  the  horses  by  wooden 
hooks  made  of  forked  limbs  tied  on  like  a  pack  saddle. 

Now  we  have  left  the  city  and  are  out  in  the  country. 
We  ride  by  banana  fields,  orange  trees,  and  palm  groves ; 
also  fields  of  cotton  and  sugar  cane.  There  is  one  palm 
growing  wild  in  Ceara  that  produces  more  things,  perhaps, 
than  any  other  tree  in  the  world.  This  is  the  carnauba 
(kar-nou'ba)  palm.  Its  trunk  is  used  for  rafters  and  build- 
ing material,  and  from  its  roots  a  medicine  is  made.  When 
young,  it  is  eaten  as  a  vegetable,  and  from  it  wine  and 
vinegar  are  made,  as  well  as  a  starch  like  sago.  The  fruit 
is  a  good  food  for  cattle,  the  pulp  having  an  agreeable  taste, 
and  the  nut  is  used  as  a  substitute  for  coffee.     The  pith  of 


S$2  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  carnauba  is  as  light  as  cork,  and  musical  instruments 
are  made  of  the  stem.  When  tapped,  the  tree  gives  forth 
a  white  hquid  much  Hke  coconut  milk.  Hats,  brooms, 
and  baskets  are  made  of  the  strawHke  bark  on  its  trunk, 
and  the  bark  is  used  also  for  thatching  houses.  From  the 
leaves  a  wax  is  obtained  that  is  manufactured  into  candles 
which  are  extensively  used  in  the  states  of  northern  Brazil. 
Ceara  produces  as  much  as  two  million  pounds  of  this  wax 
in  a  year. 

Ceara  is  noted  also  for  its  parrots,  which  are  famous  as 
talkers.  They  are  of  a  beautiful  green  and  blue  color  with 
a  bit  of  red  on  the  wings  and  neck,  and  they  are  smaller 
than  most  other  parrots.  We  see  some  in  the  markets. 
The  price  is  only  two  dollars  per  bird,  but  alas  !  the  parrots 
speak  Portuguese,  and  before  we  could  enjoy  them  they 
would  have  to  be  taught  a  new  language.  We  take  several 
with  us  on  the  steamer,  however,  and  amuse  ourselves  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  journey  by  giving  them  lessons  in  our 
own  American  tongue.  We  are  now  only  a  Httle  south  of 
the  equator  and  the  weather  is  hot,  although  the  sea  breeze 
makes  us  quite  comfortable.  We  sail  on  for  a  day  or  so, 
moving  northwestward,  and  come  to  anchor  at  last  at  the 
city  of  Para  in  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Amazon. 

1.  Describe  Bahia.  Compare  it  in  size  with  Rio  de  Janeiro; 
with  Para  ;  with  Pernambuco.  Why  was  Bahia  the  chief  port  for  the 
slave  trade  ?  Mention  its  principal  industries.  What  fruit  did  it 
give  CaHfornia? 

2.  Locate  the  Sao  Francisco  River  and  the  Paulo  Affonso  falls. 
Why  are  the  water  powers  of  Brazil  very  important  ? 

3.  What  minerals  are  found  in  Brazil?  Locate  Minas  Geraes. 
What  is  manganese?  What  country  of  Europe  has  great  supplies 
of  this  ore?     (See  Carpenter's  "  Europe.") 

4.  Where  are  the  richest  diamond  fields  of  Brazil?  Of  the  world? 
How  are  the  diamonds  mined?     Compare  diamond  mining  in  Brazil 


THE    KING   OF   RIVERS  333 

with  that  in  Africa.  Find  out  all  you  can  about  these  precious 
stones.  (See  Carpenter's  "Africa,"  and  Carpenter's  "How  the 
World  is  Clothed,"  chapters  37  and  38.) 

5.  Describe  the  harbor  of  Pernambuco.     Why  is  the  town  called 
Recife  ? 

6.  What  crop  of  this  region  may  some  day  compete  with  an  im- 
portant product  of  our  southern  states? 

7.  From  what  Brazilian  tree  are  candles  made?     Make  a  list  of 
other  useful  things  that  come  from  this  tree. 


XLVII.     THE   KING   OF   RIVERS 

BEFORE  we  begin  our  travels  up  the  Amazon  let  us 
consider  the  wonderful  region  into  which  we  are 
going.  The  Amazon  is  the  king  of  rivers  and  flows  through 
the  greatest  valley  of  the  world.  The  basin  it  drains  is  two 
thirds  as  large  as  the  United  States.  The  headwaters  of 
the  river  are  gathered  from  a  curve  of  the  Andes  two  thou- 
sand miles  long.  The  basin  is  as  wide  as  the  distance  from 
New  York  to  Salt  Lake  City.  The  divide  on  the  north 
is  the  highland  of  Guiana.  On  the  south  it  is  separated 
from  the  basin  of  the  Parana  by  a  gentle  rise  in  the  plain. 
At  its  back  are  the  great  Andes,  and  from  the  foot  of  these 
mountains  the  basin  slopes  downward  to  the  sea  so  gradually 
that,  in  this  long  distance  of  about  two  thousand  miles,  the 
fall  is  only  two  hundred  feet.  This  is  so  Kttle  that  if  the 
Amazon  valley  were  free  from  trees  and  we  were  riding  over 
it  in  a  wagon  it  would  appear  to  be  a  level  plain.  The  fall 
is  only  a  little  more  than  an  inch  to  the  mile,  and  for  several 
hundred  miles  from  its  mouth  much  less  than  that.  We 
might  take  ship  on  the  Amazon  and  travel  up  it  farther 
than  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  and 


334 


THE    KING   OF   RIVERS  335 

we  would  then  be  not  over  forty  feet  higher  than  when  we 
started. 

The  fall  is  so  gentle  that  you  would  hardly  think  the  water 
would  flow,  but  it  does  in  such  a  mighty  volume  that  it 
carries  with  it  vast  quantities  of  the  earth  washings  of  the 
mountains.  Millions  of  huge  motor  trucks  working  day 
and  night  could  not  haul  down  the  mud  that  it  is  daily 
carrying  into  the  Atlantic. 

i  There  is  so  much  of  this  mud  that  it  makes  the  ocean 
yellow  for  one  hundred  mile§  out  from  the  shore,  and  for 
a  day  before  we  arrive  at  Para  we  are  sailing  through  water 
almost  as  thick  as  pea  soup.  Indeed,  bits  of  tree  trunks 
and  vegetation  from  the  Andes  are  often  seen  floating  four 
hundred  miles  from  the  coast ;  they  have  traveled  from 
their  homes  in  the  mountains  as  far  as  the  distance  across 
our  continent.  Is  not  this  a  wonderful  river?  What  can 
be  the  cause  of  such  a  great  volume  of  water  that  keeps  on 
flowing  day  and  night,  year  in  and  year  out,  from  one  hfe- 
time  to  another  ? 

Now  let  us  see  whence  this  perpetual  flow  of  fresh  water 
comes.  It  is  brought  here  by  the  constant  trade  winds 
that  start  from  the  shores  of  Africa,  and  as  they  cross  the 
Atlantic  are  filled  with  moisture.  When  they  reach  Brazil 
they  are  loaded  with  water,  and  as  they  rise  and  cool  in 
their  journey  to  the  mountains,  up  the  wide  trough  of  the 
Amazon  valley,  they  drop  this  as  rain.  They  drop  more 
and  more  as  they  go  on  to  the  westward,  and  the  water 
falling  over  this  vast  surface  is  carried  by  countless  streams 
into  the  channel  of  the  Amazon  River.  So  much  water 
falls  that  the  Amazon  valley  is  one  of  the  rainiest  regions 
of  the  world.  There  is  so  much  rain,  indeed,  that  if  the 
mouth  of  the  river  could  be  held  back  by  a  great  dam,  like 
that  at    Gatun,  a  vast  sea  would    soon    be    formed.     It 


336  SOUTH  AMERICA 

is  estimated  that  so  much  rain  falls  in  a  single  year  that, 
if  it  remained  where  it  fell,  the  valley  would  be  covered  with 
water  to  a  depth  of  eighty  inches,  which  is  greater  than  the 
height  of  the  tallest  man. 

As  we  stand  on  the  deck  of  the  steamer  we  observe  that 
the  air  is  full  of  moisture.  Para  has  a  heavy  rain  almost 
every  afternoon  and  its  people  make  their  appointments  to , 
call  after  the  daily  shower.  We  shall  find  the  air  moist 
all  the  way  to  the  Andes,  and  we  must  wipe  off  our  knives, 
cameras,  and  guns  every  day  to  keep  them  from  rusting. 
The  air  is  so  wet  that  a  gun  loaded  overnight  will  not  go 
off  in  the  morning. 

Fortunately  for  us,  the  great  river  is  now  at  its  lowest 
stage.  For  almost  two  thousand  miles  from  the  sea  it  is 
from  two  to  five  miles  in  width.  During  the  rainy  seasons 
of  November  and  February  it  slowly  rises  to  from  thirty 
to  fifty  feet  above  its  present  level.  It  then  floods  much  of 
the  valley  and  thousands  of  square  miles  are  covered  with 
water.  The  river  flows  in  and  out  among  the  tree  tops,  and 
for  hundreds  of  miles  back  from  the  ocean,  the  valley  is  a 
great  inland  sea  from  fifteen  to  one  hundred  miles  wide. 
In  the  dry  times  there  may  be  seen  vast  stretches  of  meadows, 
where  the  water  lies  so  long  upon  the  land  that  trees  will 
not  grow.  The  pasture  fields  of  the  Amazon  are  the  result. 
Most  of  the  valley,  however,  is  a  forest,  in  which  there  are 
no  paths  and  through  which  we  can  go  only  in  boats.  There 
are  so  many  streams  that  most  parts  of  the  forest  can  be 
reached  by  them.  The  Amazon  in  its  long  course  receives 
more  than  one  hundred  rivers,  into  which  flow  myriads  of 
smaller  streams.  Of  its  rivers,  eight  have  a  navigable 
length  of  more  than  one  thousand  miles  each.  On  the  Rio 
Negro  one  can  go  to  the  north  until  he  is  very  near  the 
headwaters  of  the  Orinoco  —  so  near  that  he  could  carry 


PARA,   the  metropolis   of  the  AMAZON      337 

his  boat  to  them  and  float  down  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
On  the  south  he  could  go  up  the  Tapajos  (ta-pa-zhosh') 
so  far  that  by  a  short  trip  he  could  drag  his  canoe  into 
the  tributaries  of  the  Paraguay  and  Parana,  and  paddle 
down  to  Buenos  Aires  or  Montevideo. 

The  Amazon  system  is  the  greatest  river  system  of  the 
globe,  and  the  river  itself  will  surprise  us  more  and  more 
as  we  travel  upon  it.  We  are  now  at  the  port  of 
Para.  We  shall  go  in  a  big  ocean  steamer  to  Manaos, 
another  port  a  thousand  miles  up  the  river,  and  we  may 
there  take  smaller  steamers  for  the  port  of  Iquitos,  Peru, 
which  is  more  than  twenty-three  hundred  miles  from  the 
ocean. 


XLVIII.     PARA,   THE   METROPOLIS   OF 
THE   AMAZON 

BEFORE  we  start  on  our  tour  up  the  Amazon  we  must 
explore  the  city  of  Para.  It  hes  in  front  of  us 
back  of  the  masts  of  those  saiUng  vessels  and  steamers 
lining  the  shore.  There  is  a  row  of  tall  palms  between  it 
and  the  river.  They  rise  high  above  that  hne  of  bright- 
colored  houses  and  their  quivering  branches  are  swaying 
in  the  wind  from  the  sea.  The  land  is  so  low  that  we  can 
see  but  Httle  of  Para  from  the  steamer.  The  city  runs  far 
back  from  the  water.  It  is  about  as  large  as  Denver,  and 
is  the  seaport  of  the  Amazon  valley. 

Some  of  the  ships  among  which  we  are  moving  have  come 
from  far  up  the  river.  There  is  a  side-wheel  steamer  loaded 
with  manioc  and  cacao  from  the  Madeira  (ma-de'e-ra).  It 
has  come  more  than  a  thousand  miles  to  Para.  That  ship 
beside  it  with  the  canvas  over  its  deck  under  which  people  are 


PARA,    THE    METROPOLIS   OF   THE   AMAZON     339 

lying  in  hammocks  is  about  to  start  up  the  Tocantins  (to- 
kan-tenz')  River,  and  the  vessel  beyond  is  filled  with  rubber 
loaded  almost  in  the  foothills  of  the  Andes  and  floated  down 
from  the  wilds  of  Bolivia.  The  steamer  over  there  with 
the  English  flag  at  its  mast  is  leaving  for  Liverpool.  It  has 
Brazil  wood,  rubber,  and  nuts  as  a  part  of  its  cargo.  The 
vessel  beside  it  with  the  dense  smoke  pouring  from  its  funnel 
is  a  Portuguese  ship  carrying  cacao.  It  is  starting  for  Lis- 
bon. Farther  over  is  a  cargo  steamer  just  in  from  New 
York;  it  has  brought  cotton  goods,  kerosene,  hardware, 
pine  lumber,  and  codfish  to  be  sold  in  Para,  and  will  carry 
back  boxes  of  rubber  to  be  used  in  our  factories. 

What  a  busy  stream  is  this  through  which  we  steam  as 
we  go  to  the  docks.  We  pass  hundreds  of  sailboats  filled 
with  vegetables  and  fruit,  and  countless  dugouts  being 
paddled  swiftly  along  toward  the  shore.  Now  we  are  at 
the  landing  and  the  cargadores  begin  to  load  and  unload 
our  steamer.  Other  steamers  are  being  unloaded  by  elec- 
tric cranes,  the  goods  being  transferred  directly  from  the 
ships  to  the  railway  cars.  There  are  huge  warehouses  in 
the  rear,  and  we  begin  to  realize  the  vast  trade  of  the  port. 
All  goods  that  go  in  and  out  of  the  Amazon  valley  must  go 
through  Para.  Several  thousand  ships  call  here  every 
year  and  the  trade  amounts  to  tens  of  milHons  of  dollars. 
We  take  automobiles  and  ride  through  Para,  going  slowly 
through  the  residence  and  business  sections  and  frequently 
stopping  to  ask  about  things  of  interest.  In  the  oldest 
streets  the  buildings  are  close  to  the  sidewalks.  Their  walls 
are  of  all  colors  and  some  of  the  houses  are  faced  with  porce- 
lain tiles  of  blue,  yellow,  or  green.  The  stores  open  on  the 
street,  and  in  front  of  some  of  them  the  goods  are  piled  on 
the  pavements. 

There  are  numerous  hammocks  of  all  grades  and  prices, 


340  SOUTH  AMERICA 

some  mere  strips  of  canvas  and  others  lace  work  of  fine 
thread.  Hammocks  are  the  beds  of  the  Amazon  valley. 
They  are  cooler  than  mattresses.  We  may  each  buy  one 
before  we  go  up  the  river.  Every  Amazon  boat  has  places 
in  which  hammocks  can  be  swung,  and  when  we  go  into  the 
woods  we  can  tie  them  to  the  branches  of  trees.  Moreover, 
the  hammocks  are  safer  than  ordinary  beds,  for  bugs,  ants, 
and  snakes  cannot  hide  in  them. 

Leaving  the  business  section,  we  stop  at  the  cathedral, 
which  was  erected  in  1710,  and  go  to  the  government  palace, 
which  was  built  about  the  time  our  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  signed.  We  visit  the  city  museum,  situated 
in  a  grove  of  rubber  trees,  and  are  shown  an  experimental 
garden  near  by  in  which  is  every  species  of  rubber  plant 
known. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  wharf  we  stop  at  a  park  by  the 
river  where  fruit,  vegetables,  and  merchandise  are  brought 
in  small  boats  from  the  neighboring  islands.  Here  the 
scene  is  a  bright  one.  Scores  of  gayly  dressed  negro 
women  are  peddling  all  sorts  of  things  and  both  women 
and  men  are  trotting  about  with  burdens  on  their  heads. 
The  buyers  are  of  all  classes.  Many  of  them  are  purchasing 
fish,  fruit,  and  vegetables  for  their  household  supplies.  A 
crowd  has  gathered  around  a  boat  filled  with  baskets,  which 
the  people  are  buying  and  carrying  off  on  their  heads. 
The  baskets  are  full  of  a  coarse  meal  that  looks  Uke  ground 
popcorn.  We  take  a  pinch  out  of  one  and  find  that  it  tastes 
much  Kke  sawdust.  It  is  manioc  flour,  an  article  which 
forms  the  food  of  a  great  part  of  Brazil.  Manioc  is  cheap 
and  nutritious,  and  quantities  of  it  are  shipped  to  the  United 
States.  It  is  a  root  from  which  comes  the  tapioca  we  use  in 
puddings  and  soups.  The  fruits  remind  us  of  Ecuador  and 
show  us  that  we  are  again  in  one  of  the  lands  of  the  equator. 


PARA,   THE   METROPOLIS   OF   THE   AMAZON       341 


We  buy  delicious  pineapples  for  a  few  cents  apiece,  and  the 
bananas  and  oranges  almost  melt  in  our  mouths.  We  buy 
a  green  coconut  and  slice  off  the  toj),  drinking  the  cool 
milk  from  the  shell. 
There  are  quantities 
of  black  tobacco  in 
long  twists,  some  as 
big  around  as  a 
baseball  bat,  and 
peddlers  bring  us 
parrots  and  mon- 
keys and  ask  us  to 
buy. 

About  the  market 
are  many  vultures. 
They  sit  on  the 
roofs  of  the  court 
ready  to  swoop  down 
and  eat  the  scraps 
of  meat  thrown 
away  by  the  butchers.  Vultures  are  the  scavengers  of  the 
Amazon.  They  are  never  killed  by  the  people  and  hence 
are  quite  tame.  Indeed,  if  they  were  not  so  disgusting  we 
might  easily  catch  them  and  pet  them. 

But  what  is  that  on  the  head  of  the  man  going  out  of  the 
door  of  the  market  house  ?  It  is  as  big  around  as  a  washtub 
and  about  a  foot  thick.  See,  it  is  alive!  It  is  poking  its 
head  in  and  out  of  its  shell  as  he  carries  it  ofif.  That  is  one 
of  the  big  turtles  of  the  Amazon.  They  are  found  near 
Para  and  in  most  parts  of  the  Amazon  basin.  They  have 
their  breeding  places  where  they  go  in  countless  numbers 
at  certain  times  of  the  year.  They  dig  holes  in  the  sand 
and  lay  their  eggs  there.     The  eggs  are  about  as  big  as  hens' 


\  ulturc. 


342 


IN   THE   LAND    OF   RUBBER  343 

eggs ;  they  have  a  leathery  skin  instead  of  a  shell.  Each 
turtle  lays  about  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  millions 
upon  millions  of  eggs  are  deposited  in  these  laying  places. 


oj*:o 


XLIX.     IN  THE  LAND   OF  RUBBER 

OUR  travels  during  the  next  few  days  will  be  devoted 
to  the  rubber  industry  of  the  Amazon  valley.  Para 
is  one  of  the  chief  rubber  ports  of  the  world  and  in  its 
warehouses  we  can  see  how  rubber  is  packed  for  the  mar- 
kets. There  are  many  rubber  trees  on  the  islands  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Amazon.  These  islands  can  be  reached 
by  steam  launch,  and  we  arrange  to  visit  a  rubber  plantation. 

But  first  let  us  learn  something  about  this  wonderful 
product.  Rubber  was  not  known  until  after  the  discovery 
of  America.  We  hear  of  it  first  at  the  time  of  the  second 
voyage  of  Columbus,  when  he  found  the  natives  of  some 
of  the  West  Indies  playing  with  rubber  balls.  It  was 
Priestley,  the  chemist,  who  in  1770  first  showed  that  rubber 
would  erase  pencil  marks. 

Rubber  was  first  brought  to  the  United  States  in  the 
year  1800,  and  about  fifty  years  later  a  Boston  sea  captain 
returned  from  Brazil  with  five  hundred  pairs  of  rubber 
boots  made  by  the  natives.  They  were  sold  for  three  dollars 
and  upwards  a  pair,  but  it  was  not  untilmany  years  later, 
after  Charles  Goodyear  had  discovered  how  to  vulcanize 
rubber,  that  waterproof  boots  and  shoes  came  into  use. 

To-day  rubber  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  all  the 
raw  materials  used  by  man.  It  keeps  us  dry  in  wet  weather. 
It  cushions  the  wheels  on  which  we  ride  in  bicycles,  motor- 
cycles, and  automobiles;  and  most  of  our  heavy  hauling 


344  SOUTH  AMERICA 

in  cities  is  done  by  trucks  whose  tires  are  of  solid  rubber. 
It  is  used  in  making  airplanes,  the  wheels  upon  which  they 
start  and  land  being  of  rubber.  We  wade  through  the  water 
in  rubber  boots,  and  race  horses  are  shod  with  rubber  shoes. 
Rubber  in  one  form  or  another  is  employed  in  many  kinds 
of  machinery.  It  is  found  in  some  of  the  buttons  with 
which  we  fasten  our  clothes  and  the  suspenders  and  garters 
which  hold  up  our  trousers  and  stockings.  During  one 
year  the  public  school  children  of  New  York  City  used  more 
than  ten  thousand  pounds  of  rubber  ink  erasers,  and  milKons 
of  elastic  bands  are  annually  consumed  in  our  business  cities. 
There  are  so  many  uses  for  rubber  that  great  factories  have 
grown  up  to  make  goods  of  this  material,  and  we  have  one 
large  city,  Akron,  Ohio,  which  makes  more  rubber  goods 
than  anything  else. 

For  a  long  time  almost  all  the  rubber  used  by  man  came 
from  the  wild  trees  of  the  Amazon  valley,  although  some 
rubber  was  gathered  from  the  tropical  forests  of  Africa  and 
other  parts  of  the  world.  About  1900  they  began  to  plant 
rubber  trees  and  cultivate  them  in  Ceylon  and  on  the  Malay 
peninsula,  and  now  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  rubber  of 
commerce  comes  from  there.  In  1919  the  United  States 
imported  almost  five  hundred  million  pounds  of  crude 
rubber,  and  about  four  fifths  of  that  amount  was  produced 
on  the  rubber  plantations  of  Ceylon  and  Malaysia.  During 
that  year  we  bought  less  than  sixty  million  pounds  from 
Brazil.  Nevertheless,  it  is  said  that  the  very  best  of  rubber 
is  that  from  the  forests  of  the  Amazon  basin. 

Rubber  is  made  from  the  latex  or  milky  juice  in  the  bark 
of  the  siphonia  elastica,  a  wild  tree  found  scattered  through 
the  forests  of  the  Amazon  basin.  The  rubber  district  is  as 
large  as  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  It 
includes  parts  of  Brazil,  Peru,  and  Bolivia,  extending  from 


A  rubber  tree.      1  he  Ixuk  is  scored  to  drain  the  sap.     The  native 
holds  a  string  of  dried  latex. 


345 


346  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  westward  to  the  foothills  of  the 
Andes",  and  on  south  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Parana  River. 

The  rubber  tree  flourishes  best  in  land  that  is  flooded 
part  of  the  year.  Ground  that  is  always  above  water  will 
not  do  for  it.  The  best  conditions  are  found  in  the  lands 
south  of  the  Amazon  and  on  the  islands  and  lowlands  not 
far  from  its  mouth.  Here  a  tree  requires  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  years'  growth  before  it  will  produce  enough  rubber 
to  pay  for  tapping  it.  Most  of  the  trees  we  shall  see  are 
older  than  that  and  some  of  them  have  been  producing 
rubber  for  years.  They  bear  a  fruit  consisting  of  a  shell, 
inside  which  are  three  Httle  nuts.  When  the  fruit  is  ripe 
the  3hell  bursts  with  a  noise  like  a  fire-cracker  and  throws 
the  nuts  to  some  distance.  So  many  nuts  come  from  each 
tree  that  it  is  said  a  man  could  easily  gather  enough  in 
one  day  to  plant  a  hundred  acres  of  land.  When  planted 
these  seeds  grow  rapidly.  They  must  be  shaded  from  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun  and  must  have  plenty  of  moisture. 
After  a  time  they  can  be  transplanted,  and  if  the  soil  and 
climatic  conditions  are  right  they  will  thrive  without  culti- 
vation. 

But  we  shall  see  these  trees  better  by  visiting  one  of  the 
islands  where  they  grow  wild  in  the  forest.  We  take  a 
steam  launch  and  ride  all  night  on  the  Amazon.  How 
bright  the  stars  are  and  how  the  moon  shines  here  in  the 
soft  air  of  the  tropics !  Our  hammocks  are  slung  from  the 
roof  of  the  boat,  and  as  we  lie  in  them  the  warm  wind  from 
the  ocean  fans  us  to  sleep.  We  spend  hours  passing  through 
one  narrow  channel  after  another  and  in  the  morning  find 
ourselves  at  anchor  before  the  house  of  a  rubber  planter. 
A  httle  wharf  extends  from  his  front  door  to  the  river  and 
we  step  out  of  the  boat  within  a  few  yards  of  the  house. 
It  is  a  low,  one-story  building  roofed  with  red  tiles  with  a 


IN  THE  LAND   OF   RUBBER  347 

wide  veranda  about  it.     At  one  end  is  a  store-room  filled 

with  groceries  and  dry  goods,  which  the  planter  sells  to  his 
rubber  gatherers,  and  on  the  veranda  itself  are  piles  of  what 
look  like  smoked  hams  but  are  really  lumps  of  rubber  ready 
for  market.  The  planter  gives  us  a  breakfast  of  coffee  and 
rolls,  after  which  we  walk  with  liim  through  the  dense  forest, 
winding  this  way  and  that  from  one  rubber  tree  to  another. 

How  interesting  it  is  and  how  different  from  what  we 
imagined !  We  have  heard  of  rubber  groves  and  rubber 
forests.  There  is  no  such  thing  in  nature.  The  trees  are 
widely  scattered.  They  are  so  far  apart  that  each  man  has 
to  walk  several  miles  in  gathering  the  saplike  juice  for  one 
day.  He  has  his  own  trees  to  attend,  and  they  may  range 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  number,  according 
to  the  distance  between  them.  The  trees  assigned  him  are 
called  a  path  or  road.  The  size  of  a  rubber  plantation  is 
estimated  by  the  number  of  roads  it  contains.  The  roads 
are  mere  footpaths  from  one  rubber  tree  to  another. 

We  are  winding  our  way  along  such  a  path  now.  Let 
us  stop  at  one  of  the  trees  and  look  at  it.  It  is  not  at  all 
Hke  the  rubber  plants  we  have  in  our  hothouses.  They 
have  lean  stems  and  thick  leaves  of  polished  green.  This 
rubber  tree  has  a  trunk  as  big  around  as  your  waist.  It  is 
a  great  forest  tree  with  leaves  somewhat  like  those  of  the 
EngUsh  ash. 

How  smooth  the  bark  is !  It  is  of  a  whitish  gray,  and 
at  a  distance  of  twelve  feet  above  the  ground  it  shines  almost 
like  silver.  Farther  down  it  is  scarred,  black,  and  warty, 
with  streaks  of  yellow  matter  that  looks  much  like  beeswax 
here  and  there  in  the  bark.  Take  out  your  knife  and  dig 
up  a  bit  of  the  wax  so  that  you  can  catch  hold  of  it.  Now 
pull  at  it.  It  will  stretch  from  six  to  twelve  inches  from 
the  tree  before  it  comes  off.     This  is  coarse  rubber,  the 


348 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


remains  of  the  juice  or  latex  that  has  dried  on  the  tree. 
It  will  all  be  pulled  out  and  saved,  although  it  will  be  sold 
at  a  much  lower  price  than  the  better  varieties  that  we  shall 
see  made  later  on. 

But  here  comes  the  rubber  gatherer  to  tap  the  tree  for 
the  day.     He  has  a  little  tomahawk,  or  hatchet,  the  blade 


Collecting  rubber.     Mr.  Carpenter  at  the  left. 


of  which  is  just  about  an  inch  wide,  and  a  lot  of  tin  cups  the 
size  of  egg  cups.  With  the  hatchet  he  makes  a  gash  in  the 
bark  just  deep  enough  to  go  through  without  cutting  the 
wood.  As  he  pulls  back  the  hatchet  a  white  fluid  begins  to 
ooze  out.  It  is  just  like  milk  and  makes  us  think  of  the  juice 
of  the  milkweed.  The  fluid  comes  out  in  drops  and  the 
man  takes  one  of  the  httle  tin  cups  and  fastens  it  into  the 
bark  just  under  the  wound  so  that  the  milk  drops  down  into 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  RUBBER 


349 


the  cup.  He  now  makes  two  or  three  other  gashes  in  the 
tree,  fitting  each  gash  with  its  cup,  and  then  goes  on  to  the 
next.  He  continues  his  work  until  every  tree  in  his  path 
has  been  tapped. 


The  fine  rubber  is  cured  by  smoking. 


The  proprietor  shows  us  how  slowly  the  milk  runs  and  says 
that  only  a  few  tablespoonfuls  can  be  gathered  from  each 
wound  in  a  day.  It  flows  best  in  the  morning  and  about 
noon  the  rubber  man  comes  back  to  gather  the  milk  in  a 
gourd  or  bucket.  The  amount  collected  varies  according  to 
the  richness  of  the  trees,  but  if  a  man  can  get  two  quarts  of 
milk  in  one  day  from  his  path  he  thinks  he  has  done  very  well. 


35° 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


The  next  process  is  to  turn  the  milk  into  the  rubber  of 
commerce.  This  is  important.  Upon  exposure  to  the 
air  the  milk  coagulates,  or  becomes  hard,  and  if  not  properly 
treated  turns  to  coarse  rubber,  which  brings  only  low  prices. 
The  fine  rubber  is  cured  by  smoking,  the  best  coming  from 
milk  smoked  only  a  few  hours  after  it  is  gathered.     Our 


Sheets  of  plantation  rubber  ready  for  shipment.     Such  rubber  comes 
only  from  Ceylon  and  Malaysia. 


planter  makes  fine  rubber  and  he  sees  that  his  men  cure  it 
as  soon  as  they  return  from  the  forest. 

There  goes  a  man  now  with  a  bucket  containing  two 
quarts  of  the  Hquid  rubber  that  he  has  just  brought  from 
the  trees.  Let  us  follow  him  and  see  the  process  of  curing. 
We  go  with  him  to  an  open  shed  and  watch  him  pour  the 
milk  into  a  bowl  as  large  as  those  we  use  in  mixing  bread. 
See  how  white  the  juice  is !  It  tastes  sweet  and  is  so  thin 
that  one  could  easily  drink  it. 


A  TRIP  ON  THE  AMAZON  RIVER  351 

Now  the  man  stoops  and  builds  a  fire  of  palm  nuts  in  one 
corner  of  the  hut  under  a  clay  chimney  raised  a  little  from 
the  floor.  The  chimney  is  so  short  that  its  top  does  not 
reach  to  our  waists.  See  how  the  nuts  burn  and  watch 
that  dense  smoke  which  pours  out  through  the  chimney. 

But  look !  The  man  has  taken  a  long  paddle  and  thrust 
the  end  of  it  into  the  milk.  It  comes  out  as  white  as  snow. 
The  milk  has  stuck  to  the  paddle.  He  now  thrusts  the  end 
of  the  paddle  into  the  smoke,  twisting  it  rapidly  as  he  does 
so,  so  that  no  drop  of  the  precious  juice  may  fall  into  the 
fire. 

As  the  smoke  touches  it  the  rubber  thickens  and  hardens, 
and  its  white  is  streaked  with  brown  by  the  smoke.  It 
has  soon  coated  the  paddle  Uke  varnish.  The  paddle  is 
again  thrust  into  the  milk  bowl,  and  when  it  comes  out  there 
is  a  fresh  coat  of  rubber  on  it  ready  for  smoking.  This  is 
hardened  in  the  same  way  and  the  work  goes  on  until  a 
mass  of  rubber  as  large  as  a  small  ham  is  built  up  on  the 
end  of  the  paddle.  Now  the  man  takes  a  knife  and  makes 
a  cut  in  one  side.  He  pulls  off  the  rubber  and  carries  it 
to  the  house,  where  it  is  piled  up  with  other  lumps  for  ship- 
ment to  factories  all  over  the  world. 


o>Kc 


L.    A  TRIP  ON  THE  AMAZON  RIVER 

OUR  next  journey  is  to  be  up  the  Amazon.  We  shall 
travel  for  weeks  upon  the  great  river,  but  we  might 
spend  years  and  not  see  it  all.  We  could  go  farther 
than  the  distance  around  the  world  in  exploring  its  tribu- 
taries. Indeed,  some  of  them  are  practically  unknown. 
In  1914  Theodore  Roosevelt  came  up  the  Paraguav  River 


352 


A   TRIP   ON   THE    AMAZON   RIVER  353 

to  Matto  Grosso  and  started  down  a  small  stream  which 
grew  larger  and  larger  as  he  traveled  upon  it  until  at  last, 
after  a  voyage  of  nine  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  it  took  him 
into  the  Madeira  River,  through  which  he  went  on  to  the 
Amazon.  This  stream  was  named  Rio  Teodoro  (ta-o-do'ro6) 
in  President  Roosevelt's  honor. 

Lying  in  our  hammocks  on  the  deck  of  the  steamer,  we 
enjoy  the  scenery  as  we  move  up  the  mighty  Amazon, 
floating  for  miles  in  and  out  between  walls  of  forest  trees 
a  hundred  feet  high.  Now  we  are  close  to  one  bank  and 
now  near  the  dense  vegetation  of  the  opposite  side.  At  times 
we  go  for  hours  in  midstream  where  the  Amazon  is  so  wide 
that  the  forests  make  two  faint  lines  of  blue  on  our  right  and 
our  left.  Now  we  steam  between  islands  so  near  the  land 
that  we  can  see  into  the  huts  of  the  rubber  gatherers  and 
others  who  have  made  their  rude  homes  on  the  banks. 

We  are  passing  one  on  the  right.  It  is  not  more  than 
fifteen  feet  square.  It  is  thatched  with  palm  leaves  and 
has  holes  in  the  walls  for  windows.  There  is  a  shed  at  one 
side,  and  inside  this  are  two  hammocks,  in  each  of  which 
a  woman  is  lying.  We  see  other  huts  farther  on.  Each 
has  its  boats  tied  to  the  shore.  The  owners  rush  to  the 
banks  and  pull  up  the  boats  at  the  approach  of  our  steamer. 
Sometimes  they  jump  into  them  and  row  out  from  the  land 
to  prevent  the  waves  made  by  the  ship  from  overturning 
i  their  boats  or  filling  them  with  water.  Most  of  the  boats 
are  dugouts,  although  at  the  larger  houses  there  are  rowboats, 
some  of  which  are  painted  in  bright  colors.  It  is  only  by 
boat  that  the  people  can  go  from  one  place  to  another. 
There  are  no  highways  through  these  dense  forests  of  the 
Amazon. 

We  have  often  heard  of  the  tropical  forest.  We  find  it 
far  different  from  what  we  supposed.     It  is  not  a  great  mass 


354  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  palms,  although  there  are  palms  here  and  there  in  it. 
Most  of  it  is  made  up  of  giant  forest  trees,  some  of  which 
are  not  unhke  the  big  trees  of  the  temperate  zone.  As  we 
steam  on  a  mile  or  so  from  the  shore  it  looks  just  Hke  our 
forests  at  home.  When  we  get  closer,  however,  we  see  here 
and  there  the  broad  leaves  of  the  palms  and  other  tropical 
trees. 

There  are  hundreds  of  feathery  creepers,  air-plants,  which 
hang  like  strands  of  green  silk  from  the  branches.  There 
is  a  dead  limb  clothed  with  orchids.  Farther  over  is  a  great 
round  mass  of  blue  flowers  rising  out  of  the  green.  That 
is  a  tree  in  blossom,  and  if  you  look  to  the  right  you  may 
see  huge  bunches  of  white,  yellow,  and  purple,  the  flowers 
of  other  forest  trees  that  grow  only  along  the  Amazon. 
There  are  trees  here  as  tall  as  the  tallest  trees  of  our  forests, 
each  of  whose  tops  forms  a  bouquet  of  violet  blue  as  big 
as  a  haystack.  Surrounded  by  green,  they  rise  a  hundred 
feet  above  us.  There  are  stacks  of  flowers  as  yellow  as 
buttercups  high  in  the  air,  and  we  now  and  then  see  trees 
loaded  with  flowers  much  Hke  tiger  lilies,  only  they  have  a 
tinge  of  red  mixed  with  their  yellow  and  black,  making 
them  more  beautiful. 

Close  to  the  shore  in  many  places  the  trees  rise  hke  a  wall 
from  the  water.  Many  of  them  are  a  hundred  feet  high, 
and  the  creepers  and  vines  that  crawl  up  their  trunks  and 
wind  this  way  and  that  in  a  tangled  mass  are  so  thick  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  cut  one's  way  through.  Most  of 
the  trees  have  a  whitish-gray  bark,  and  some  of  the  trunks 
are  so  twisted  and  ribbed  that  they  look  like  cables  of  white 
taffy  braided  together  to  support  the  vast  mass  of  foliage 
above  them. 

One  of  the  noblest  trees  of  all  rises  far  above  the  others. 
This  is  the  tree  which  produces  the  Brazil  nut.     It  grows 


A  TRIP  ON   THE  AMAZON   RIVER  355 

to  a  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  with  magnificent 
foliage  of  dark  green  leaves.  Its  fruit  is  the  shape  of  our 
black  walnut,  save  that  it  is  bigger  around  than  the  biggest 
baseball.  It  has  an  outer  skin  like  a  walnut  and  a  similar 
hard  shell  within.  Inside  the  hard  shell  are  the  long,  three- 
cornered  Brazil  nuts  that  are  sold  in  the  stores.  There  are 
often  twenty  nuts  in  one  shell.  The  nuts  are  gathered  and 
carried  in  boats  to  Para,  where  the  shells  are  broken  and 
the  Brazil  nuts  of  commerce  are  taken  out.  The  nuts  are 
quite  heavy,  and  we  tremble  as  we  walk  under  the  trees 
for  fear  some  may  drop  on  our  heads.  We  hear  monkeys 
chattering  in  the  branches  and  fear  they  may  throw  the 
nuts  at  us  from  the  tops  of  the  trees. 

At  the  town  of  Obidos  (o-be'dos),  five  hundred  miles 
from  the  Atlantic,  the  channel  of  the  Amazon  narrows  and 
the  immense  volume  of  water  pours  through  an  opening 
about  a  mile  wide.  The  current  here  is  so  strong  that  our 
steamer  dares  not  rely  on  its  anchor  alone,  but  has  also  a 
cable  by  which  it  is  tied  to  a  tree  on  the  bank.  We  wait 
for  some  hours  and  during  our  stay  are  taken  in  canoes  to 
the  shore.  The  town  is  a  collection  of  rude  houses  built 
along  three  or  four  narrow  streets.  Obidos  has  a  factory 
for  making  chocolate,  and  we  learn  that  there  are  many 
cacao  plantations  near  by.  We  see  more  cacao  trees  as  we 
sail  on  our  way  up  the  river.  The  orchards  line  the  south 
bank  of  the  Amazon  for  miles. 

Some  distance  above  Obidos  we  pass  the  mouth  of  the 
Madeira,  and  soon  after  come  to  a  place  where  the  waters 
of  the  Rio  Negro  (na'gro)  join  those  of  the  Amazon.  The 
Rio  Negro  is  as  black  as  ink  and  the  Amazon  as  yellow  as 
mud.  The  Rio  Negro  keeps  its  color  for  a  longdistance  after 
it  reaches  the  Amazon  before  it  is  swallowed  up  by  that 
great  yellow  monster.     We  ride  along  in  our  steamer  on  the 


356  SOUTH  AMERICA 

line  where  the  two  c'olors  join,  seeing  the  black  on  one  side 
of  the  ship  and  the  yellow  on  the  other,  but  soon  turn  to 
the  right  and  sail  for  an  hour  up  the  wide  Rio  Negro,  to  the 
city  of  Manaos,  the  rubber  metropoUs  of  the  central 
Amazon  valley. 

Manaos  Hes  on  the  river  bank  high  above  the  water.  Its 
wide  streets  are  Hned  with  palm  trees  and  its  bright  houses 
shine  under  the  tropical  sun.  It  is  a  large  city  for  this  part 
of  the  world,  having  about  half  as  many  people  as  Para.  It 
is  at  the  junction  of  many  navigable  waterways ;  therefore 
it  is  the  best  place  for  the  trade  of  this  region  and  must  con- 
tinue to  grow.  We  are  surprised  to  fine  good  houses  and 
modern  improvements  here  in  the  heart  of  the  wilds.  Ma- 
naos has  electric  street-cars,  electric  lights,  and  good  schools. 
It  has  one  of  the  finest  theaters  of  Brazil,  a  market,  a  mu- 
seum, and  some  large  stores.  To  it  come  steamers  from 
all  parts  of  the  Amazon  valley.  The  largest  ocean  steamers 
from  the  United  States  and  Europe  can  come  from  the  ocean 
right  up  to  Manaos.  The  Rio  Negro  at  this  point  is  two 
miles  in  width  and  more  than  one  hundred  feet  deep  at  low 
water. 

The  port  has  good  landing  arrangements,  notwithstanding 
that  there  is  a  difference  of  forty  or  fifty  feet  in  the  height 
of  the  river  between  the  wet  and  the  dry  seasons.  From 
December  to  May  the  largest  ocean  steamers  can  come  to 
the  quay,  but  when  the  river  is  low  a  mud  bank  three  hun- 
dred feet  wide  extends  out  from  it.  For  this  reason  a  lower 
quay  has  been  built.  This  is  under  water  at  the  flood 
season.  There  are  also  floating  docks  which  are  used  during 
that  season. 

The  rubber  gatherers  bring  quantities  of  rubber  to  Ma- 
naos from  the  vast  regions  west  and  south  of  it,  and  they 
come  by  the  hundreds  for  their  supphes,  often  trading  rubber 


SOME  WILD   INDIANS   OF  BRAZIL  357 

for  goods.  It  is  from  here  that  expeditions  start  out  to  ex- 
plore the  wilds  of  the  Amazon  and  its  tributaries,  and  we 
can  find  boats  and  men  here  who  will  go  with  us  to  almost 
any  part  of  this  Httle  known  region. 


o>»Cc 


LI.    SOME   WILD   INDIANS   OF   BRAZIL 

THERE  are  many  wild  Indians  scattered  here  and  there 
throughout  the  Amazon  basin,  and  also  some  more 
or  less  civihzed,  who  are  engaged  by  the  white  men 
in  the  gathering  of  rubber.  We  often  think  of  our  conti- 
nent as  the  chief  home  of  the  red  race,  and  of  the  United 
States  as  the  country  where  most  of  the  Indians  hved  be- 
fore the  white  men  came.  The  truth  is,  South  America  had 
more  Indians  than  North  America,  and  it  is  estimated  that 
there  are  now  four  or  five  times  as  many  Indians  in  Brazil 
as  in  the  United  States.  In  Matto  Grosso  are  the  Tupi- 
Guaranis  (tdb'pe  gwa-ra'nes),  much  Uke  the  redskins  we  saw 
in  Paraguay.  They  are  a  mild  people,  good-looking  and 
intelUgent.  The  Jesuit  Fathers  have  christianized  many  of 
them  and  books  have  been  printed  in  their  language. 
Indeed,  Tupi-Guarani  is  now  understood  in  most  parts 
of  central  South  America. 

In  the  wilder  parts  of  Sao  Paulo  and  in  other  parts 
of  southern  and  western  Brazil  Hve  the  Botocudos 
(bo-to-koo'doz),  who  are  as  degraded  as  the  Indians  we  saw 
about  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  They  have  huts  in  the  woods, 
and  they  feed  largely  on  nuts  and  roots  and  what  they  can 
kill.  Most  of  them  are  of  less  than  medium  height.  Their 
hair  is  black,  and  their  skins  are  yellowish-brown,  rather 
than  red. 


358 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


Many  of  the  Botocudos  still  wear  great  plugs  of  wood, 
bone,  or  stone  in  their  lips  and  ear  lobes.  Some  of  these 
plugs  are  as  big  around  as  a  pint  cup  and  others  as  large  as 
a  napkin  ring.  Think  of  making  a  hole  in  your  lip  or  ear 
lobe  so  large  that  a  glass  tumbler  could  be  carried  in  it ! 
We  have  photographs  of  these  Indians  showing  that  this 
is  actually  done,  and  we  learn  that  such  decorations  are 


The  Bolocudos  wear  plugs  in  their  Ups  and  ear  lobes.     These  plugs 
are  as  large  around  as  a  napkin  ring. 


thought  to  be  beautiful.  When  a  girl  is  eight  years  old  a 
small  hole  is  made  in  her  lower  hp  with  the  hard  point  of  a 
stick,  and  a  Httle  plug  is  put  in  to  keep  the  hole  open.  As 
the  sore  heals  a  larger  plug  is  inserted,  and  as  time  goes  on 
larger  and  larger  plugs  are  used,  the  flesh  growing  and 
stretching  around  them  until  the  lip  becomes  a  mere  strip 
of  skin.  The  holes  in  the  ears  are  made  in  the  same  way. 
This  custom  is  now  dying  out,  but  it  is  still  kept  up  in  some 
of  the  tribes  of  the  wilds.     In  northern  Brazil  are  found 


SOME  WILD  INDIANS  OF  BRAZIL 


359 


the  Caribs  and  the  Arawaks,  whose  forefathers  emigrated 
to  the  West  Indies  and  were  found  there  by  the  Spaniards. 
They  were  brave,  and  they  fought  against  the  white  invaders 
of  their  territory.     The  Caribs  were  said  to  have  been  canni- 


Amazon  Indians  equipped  with  bows  with  which  they  shoot  poisoned 
arrows.     Blow  guns  also  are  used  for  this  purpose. 

bals.  The  Arawaks  are  not  so  strong  as  the  Caribs,  but 
they  are  much  more  civihzed.  They  weave  cloth  of  various 
kinds  and  make  some  things  of  gold. 

Other  tribes  along  the  Amazon  River  have  blow  guns, 
through  wMch  they  shoot  arrows  tipped  with  poison.     The 


360  SOUTH  AMERICA 

blow  guns  are  pipes  about  an  inch  in  diameter  and  ten  to 
twelve  feet  in  length.  They  are  made  of  a  hard  wood  which 
is  spHt  and  then  hollowed  out.  After  the  parts  are  glued 
together  and  wrapped  with  rattan  they  are  perfectly  air- 
tight. The  arrows  are  as  thick  as  a  hatpin  and  about  a 
foot  long.  They  are  as  sharp  as  a  needle,  the  blunt  end 
being  wrapped  with  cotton  so  that  it  fits  the  hole  in  the 
blow  gun.  The  arrow,  having  been  dipped  in  poison,  is 
blown  out  of  the  pipe  with  such  force  that  it  flies  to  a  dis- 
tance of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet.  The  poison  is  so 
venomous  that  a  scratch  will  cause  death. 

Along  the  river  Tapajos,  the  mouth  of  which  we 
passed  on  our  way  up  to  Manaos,  Hve  the  Mundurucos 
(moon-dob-rdb'kuz) ,  who  cut  off  the  heads  of  their  enemies 
and  preserve  them  as  trophies.  They  cure  them  in  such 
a  way  that  all  the  features  are  preserved  as  in  life.  They 
do  not  squeeze  the  heads  in  and  make  them  smaller  as  do 
the  Indians  at  some  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Amazon  in 
Ecuador.  There  are  many  of  these  heads  thus  preserved 
shown  in  the  museums  of  Brazil.  They  have  eyes  of  black 
gum  surrounded  by  bone  to  represent  the  whites,  and  the 
mouths  are  closed  with  black  rubber. 

During  our  stay  at  Manaos  we  are  told  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Brazil  has  many  plans  to  civihze  its  Indians.  It 
has  placed  some  of  the  tribes  on  reservations  and  has  given 
I  lands  to  the  members  of  other  tribes.  It  is  starting  schools 
J  and  experimental  farms  in  many  of  the  states  and  doing 
what  it  can  to  pacify  the  wild  tribes  and  make  them  civilized 
people. 

We  spend  several  days  at  Manaos  talking  with  the  ex- 
plorers and  others  from. many  parts  of  the  Amazon  basin 
and  planning  our  tour  for  the  future.  We  find  that  we 
could  take  a  good  steamer  and  sail  on  the  Amazon  more 


These  men  arc  head  hunters  of  the  upper  Amazon. 
361 


362 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


than  thirteen  hundred  miles  farther  west  to  Iquitos  in  Peru 
and  there  find  trails  by  which  we  could  walk  over  the  Andes 
to  the  west  coast.  Or  we  could  steam  up  the  Madeira 
River  and  by  the  Madeira-Mamore  (ma-mo-ra')  railway 
go  around  the  great  falls  and  thence  on  up  into  the  Beni  River, 


n»'\( 


■^v,' 


Home  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Negro.     The  house  is  thatched  with 
grass.     Shredded  palm  leaves  are  sometimes  used. 

by  which  we  could  reach  trails  to  La  Paz  and  Lake  Titicaca. 
The  Madeira-Mamore  railway  is  about  two  hundred  miles 
long.  It  was  built  by  men  from  the  United  States  to  take 
passengers  and  freight  around  the  falls,  and  it  enables  the 
rubber  of  Matto  Grosso  and  Bolivia  to  be  brought  down  the 
Amazon  to  Manaos  and  Para. 


SOME   WILD   INDIANS  OF  BR.\ZIL  363 

We  decide,  however,  to  make  our  way  northward  into 
Venezuela,  and  we  continue  our  journey  up  the  Rio  Negro. 
We  ride  for  days  through  its  black,  muddy  waters,  winding 
in  and  out  through  dense  forest  until  at  last  we  come  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Casiquiare  (ka-se-kya'ra),  a  river  uniting  the 
Orinoco  with  the  Amazon  system.  We  travel  northward 
some  distance  on  this  stream  and  are  soon  floating  down 
the  Orinoco  through  the  llanos  (la'noz)  on  our  way  to  the 
Atlantic. 

1.  Why  is  the  Amazon  called  the  King  of  Rivers?  Compare  its 
basin  with  the  United  States.  Compare  the  rainfall  with  that  of 
your  home.  How  long  is  the  Amazon?  The  Orinoco?  The  Rio 
de  la  Plata?  The  Mississippi-Missouri?   The  Nile?    (See  Table  VII.) 

2.  Locate  the  three  principal  Amazon  ports  on  the  map.  How 
far  inland  is  Manaos?     Iquitos? 

3.  Describe  your  trip  through  Para.  Name  some  of  the  exports 
and  imports  which  you  see  on  the  ships  and  in  the  stores. 

4.  How  many  things  can  you  mention  for  which  rubber  is  used? 
What  do  you  own  that  is  made  of  it?  What  is  plantation  rubber? 
Where  is  it  grown?  Name  a  United  States  city  which  is  noted  for  its 
rubber  factories.  Describe  a  visit  to  a  rubber  forest.  Tell  how 
the  rubber  is  gathered  and  prepared  for  the  market.  (See  Carpenter's 
"How  the  World  is  Clothed,"  chapter  34.)  Follow  a  shipment  of 
rubber  from  Para  to  Akron. 

5.  Locate  on  the  map  the  chief  tributaries  of  the  Amazon.  Trace 
President  Roosevelt's  journey  up  the  Paraguay  and  on  to  the  Amazon. 
About  where  is  the  stream  that  is  named  for  him? 

6.  Give  a  picture  of  the  tropical  forest.  What  nut  do  we  get 
from  there?      Bring  some  from  the  store  to  class. 

7.  Describe  Manaos.     Why  has  it  become  so  important  ? 

8.  Which  country  has  the  most  Indians,  Brazil  or  the  United 
States?  Name  some  of  the  tribes  of  Brazil.  Which  are  the  most 
civilized?     The  most  savage? 

9.  By  what  two  routes  might  we  go  from  Manaos  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean?  Locate  the  Madeira-Mamore  railway.  What  river  con- 
nects the  Amazon  system  with  the  Orinoco?  Take  a  trip  from  New 
York  to  Para,  direct  and  by  the  Panama  Canal. 


THE-  ORINOCO   AND   THE   LLANOS  365 

LII.  THE  ORINOCO  AND  THE  LLANOS 

IS  this  not  a  wonderful  system  of  rivers  by  which  almost 
all  the  continent  east  of  the  Andes  is  watered?  We 
have  seen  how  close  the  headwaters  of  the  Paraguay  are 
to  the  southern  sources  of  the  Amazon.  Indeed,  with  a 
short  canal,  we  might  start  from  the  Caribbean  Sea  into 
the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  go  on  water  almost  all  the  way 
through  interior  South  America,  and  come  out  again  into 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  through  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  If  you 
will  look  at  your  map  of  South  America  you  will  see  how 
easily  we  might  trace  our  way  from  the  Orinoco  into  the 
Cassiquiari  and  then  go  over  the  route  we  have  just  traveled 
back  to  Manaos  and  down  the  Amazon  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Tapajos  River.  We  might  sail  up  the  Tapajos  to  its 
source,  when  we  would  be  so  near  the  beginnings  of  the 
Parana  system  that  in  a  day  we  could  walk  to  one  of  them 
and  float  with  the  current  into  the  Paraguay  River,  up 
which  we  came  to  visit  Mat  to  Grosso,  Brazil. 

But  we  are  now  on  the  Orinoco.  Its  thick  yellow  waters, 
loaded  with  sediment,  are  rushing  in  a  swift  current  down 
to  the  Atlantic.  They  have  been  gathered  from  mountains 
far  to  the  westward  and  poured  in  through  countless 
brariches  from  the  llanos,  or  vast  meadows,  and  other  parts 
of  the  basin,  which  all  together  forms  a  territory  one  fifth 
as  large  as  the  whole  United  States.  The  Orinoco  is,  indeed, 
a  wonderful  river.  It  is  the  third  largest  on  the  South 
American  continent,  being  surpassed  only  by  the  Amazon 
and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  It  is  almost  fifteen  hundred  miles 
long,  and  its  main  stream  is  navigable  for  twelve  hundred 
miles,  although  the  rapids  of  Maipures  (ml-pdo-ras')  and 
Altures  (al-too-ras')  are  about  eight  hundred  and  forty 
miles  from  its   mouth.     The  river  is  navigable  hundreds 


306 


THE   ORINOCO   AND   THE    LLAxNOS  367 

of  miles  above  the  falls,  and  below  them  it  flows  with 
a  gentle  current  over  almost  level  country  to  the  sea, 
the  tides  being  felt  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the 
ocean. 

The  Orinoco  has  four  hundred  navigable  branches,  and 
it  furnishes  so  many  water  routes  that  there  are  few  places 
in  its  basin  not  accessible  to  one  of  them  by  a  mule  ride  of 
a  few  days. 

Now  we  have  left  our  small  boats  and  are  again  on  a 
steamer.  We  are  traveling  through  a  country  far  different 
from  that  of  the  Amazon.  The  dense  forest  has  disappeared 
and  a  vast  expanse  of  level  land  stretches  away  on  both  sides 
of  the  river.  The  plains  are  called  llanos.  They  are  covered 
with  coarse  grass,  the  most  of  which  is  now  luxuriantly 
green.  Here  and  there  it  is  gray,  and  we  sometimes  pass 
a  tract  that  has  been  blackened  by  fire. 

See  that  smoke  away  off  to  the  right  and  the  flames  rolling 
up  from  the  ground.  That  is  one  of  the  prairie  fires  of  cen- 
tral Venezuela.  It  has  been  started  by  the  farmers,  who 
are  burning  off  the  dead  grass  that  a  new  crop  may  quickly 
come  up. 

How  many  cattle  there  are  on  the  llanos  !  We  see  herds 
of  thousands,  and  we  learn  that  stock  raising  is  one  of  the 
great  industries  of  this  country.  More  and  more  cattle  are 
being  reared  every  year  and  Venezuela  now  has  several 
million  beeves  feeding  upon  its  great  plains.  The  beasts 
are  grown  for  their  meat  and  skins.  The  skins  are  salted 
and  dried  and  shipped  by  the  thousands  to  the  United  States 
and  Europe,  where  they  are  tanned  and  made  into  leather 
for  shoes  and  other  products. 

The  meat  is  stripped  from  the  bones  in  sheets  and  salted 
and  made  into  the  jerked  or  dried  beef  so  much  desired  bv 
the  people  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  America.     It  is  taken 


368  SOUTH   AMERICA 

on  the  steamers  down  the  Orinoco  and  has  a  ready  sale  also 
in  the  various  islands  of  the  West  Indies. 

But  what  is  that  town  away  off  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
river?  There  are  blue  and  white  buildings  with  red  roofs 
rising  in  terraces  upon  the  low  hills.  There  are  steamers 
at  anchor  at  the  wharf.  It  seems  quite  a  city.  That  is 
the  first  evidence  of  civihzation  we  have  seen  since  we  left 
Manaos  some  weeks  ago.  We  are  approaching  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  llanos,  the  chief  city  of  interior  Venezuela.  Its 
name  is  Ciudad  Bolivar  (syoo-thath'  bo-le'var),  and  it  forms 
the  center  of  trade  for  a  vast  region.  From  it  go  the  chief 
exports  of  cattle,  and  it  is  also  the  point  from  where  ex- 
peditions start  for  the  gold  mines  farther  south. 

Now  we  have  landed  and  are  walking  up  the  steep, 
narrow  streets  paved  with  rough  cobbles.  The  houses  are 
almost  all  of  one  story.  They  are  built  about  courts  like 
those  of  the  Spanish  towns  we  saw  in  our  tour  along  the 
west  coast.  There  is  plenty  of  grass  in  the  streets.  There 
are  no  wheeled  vehicles  to  speak  of  and  we  shall  have  to 
use  horses  in  making  our  trips.  Every  well-to-do  family 
on  the  llanos  has  plenty  of  horses,  and  we  shall  have  no 
trouble  in  getting  good  saddle  animals.  Most  of  them  are 
single-footers,  having  a  gait  Hke  a  pace,  which  carries  one 
along  so  gently  that  he  feels  as  though  he  might  be  riding 
on  the  rocking-horse  of  his  baby  brother. 

There  are  but  few  carts  in  Venezuela.  Things  are  carried 
about  upon  donkeys.  Here  comes  one  now  with  two  huge 
baskets  filled  with  vegetables  slung  to  his  sides.  Behind 
him  is  another  carrying  boxes  of  bread,  and  we  see  others 
loaded  with  all  sorts  of  things,  including  wood,  bricks,  and 
stone,  which  they  are  patiently  bearing  to  different  parts 
of  the  city.  We  see  more  donkeys  from  the  country  when 
we  visit  the  market.     They  have  neither  bridles  nor  halters 


THE  ORINOCO  AND   THE   LLANOS  369 

and  they  stand  blinking  their  eyes  as  they  wait  for  their 
masters  to  drive  them  back  home. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  vegetables  and  tropical  fruits 
sold  in  the  market.  We  see  quantities  of  plantains  and 
bananas  and  learn  that  they  form  a  large  part  of  the  food 
of  the  people.  There  is  plenty  of  beef,  also  manioc  flour 
such  as  we  saw  on  the  Amazon. 

There  are  red  clay  bowls  for  cooking  and  many  of  the 
grass  hammocks  that  form  the  beds  and  loafing  and  sitting 
places  of  nine  tenths  of  the  people.  We  frequently  sleep 
in  hammocks  during  our  visits  to  the  large  farmers  near 
Ciudad  Bolivar. 

There  are  steamers  every  few  days  from  Ciudad  Boli- 
var down  the  Orinoco.  They  sail  out  through  the  delta 
and  go  on  to  the  island  of  Trinidad,  where  one  can  get 
ships  for  La  Guaira  (la  gwl'ra)  and  other  coast  cities  of 
Venezuela. 

The  steamer  on  which  we  go  out  to  the  sea  is  a  great  side- 
wheeler  with  two  decks,  much  Hke  the  boats  on  the  Hudson. 
It  has  a  North  American  captain,  but  with  the  exception  of 
ourselves  the  passengers  are  all  Venezuelans.  Some  of 
them  are  white,  others  are  of  the  mixed  race  of  Spaniards 
and  Indians,  while  others  seem  to  have  negro  blood  in  their 
veins.  There  are  also  a  few  native  Indians  among  the  deck 
passengers.  There  are  many  women  and  children  on  board 
and  each  seems  to  have  a  pet  of  one  kind  or  another.  In- 
deed, there  are  so  many  cats,  dogs,  monkeys,  parrots,  and 
other  birds  that  the  scene  on  the  deck  makes  us  think  of  a 
zoological  garden. 

We  steam  on  for  a  day  before  we  come  to  the  delta.  The 
river  is  wide  and  there  are  numerous  islands.  There  are 
few  villages  and  not  many  people.  The  water  is  so  thick 
that  it  seems  to  drop  mud  as  it  flows.     It  is  in  this  way  tliat 


370  SOUTH   AMERICA 

the  river  has  built  up  the  great  delta  through  which  we  go 
to  the  Caribbean  Sea. 

The  delta  of  the  Orinoco  is  about  as  large  as  the  state  of 
New  Jersey.  It  is  for  the  most  part  a  tropical  jungle  cut 
by  channels  of  various  widths,  which  are  lined  with  mangoes, 
palms,  and  other  wild  forest  trees  bound  together  with  long 
creepers  much  like  those  we  saw  on  the  Amazon. 

Here  and  there  Indian  huts  and  clearings  have  been 
made  in  the  jungle.  The  huts  are  mere  sheds  of  poles  and 
palm  leaves,  and  the  people  within  He  in  their  hammocks 
or  come  outside  and  gaze  at  us  as  the  steamer  goes  by. 
The  men  and  boys  have  only  a  rag  about  the  waist  and 
the  little  children  are  naked.  The  women  wear  short 
petticoats  of  the  fibrous  bark  of  the  palm  tree.  All  seem 
lazy  and  we  learn  that  they  hunt  and  fish  only  enough  to 
keep  them  alive. 

LIII.     VENEZUELA  AND   ITS   CAPITAL 

WE  stay  only  a  few  hours  at  Trinidad  and  then  take 
ship  for  the  ports  of  Venezuela.  We  travel  from 
one  place  to  another,  making  excursions  into  the  country, 
visiting  all  the  large  cities,  and  spending  some  weeks  in 
Caracas,  the  capital. 

Venezuela  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  of  the  South  Americah 
republics.  It  is  so  large  that  it  would  make  about  ten  states 
the  size  of  Indiana,  and  there  are  few  others  so  well 
watered.  We  have  seen  something  of  the  Orinoco  basin. 
The  country  has  many  other  navigable  rivers,  including 
more  than  one  thousand  streams. 

The  coast  line  of  Venezuela  is  longer  than  the  Mississippi 
River  without  the  Missouri ;  it  has  thirty-two  harbors  and 


VENEZUELA   AND    ITS   CAPITAL 


371 


CARIBBEAN 


numerous  bays,  the  largest  of  which  is  Lake  Maracaibo 
(ma-ra-kl'bo) ,  about  the  size  of  our  Great  Salt  Lake. 

It  was  from  Lake  Maracaibo  that  Venezuela  was  named. 
When  the  Spaniards  discovered  the  country,  about  eight 
years  after  Colum- 
bus first  came  to 
America,  they  en- 
tered this  bay.  On 
its  shores  and  islands 
they  found  a  tribe 
of  natives  living  in 
huts  made  of  palm 
leaves  and  rushes. 
The  huts  were  built 
upon  piles  driven 
into  the  sand.  They 
were  surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  water 
and  the  people  went 

from  one  place  to  another  in  canoes.  This  reminded  the 
Spaniards  of  Venice  and  they  called  the  country  Venezuela, 
which  means  "Little  Venice,"  and  by  this  name  it  is  known 
to  this  day.  Even  now  Lake  Maracaibo  has  buildings  on 
piles.  The  Indians  inhabiting  them  live  by  fishing.  They 
are  quite  savage,  and  although  they  speak  Spanish  they 
have  not  united  with  the  whites  as  have  many  other  tribes 
of  the  country. 

We  have  seen  something  of  the  lowlands  of  Venezuela 
and  their  vast  pastures,  which  it  is  said  could  support  thirty 
or  more  times  as  many  cattle  as  the  country  now  has.  The 
chief  of  these  are  in  the  basin  of  the  Orinoco.  North  and 
west  of  that  basin  are  hills  and  mountains,  and  here 
and    there  little   ranges   of  hills.     Caracas  is   situated   a 


372 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


short  distance  back  from  the  seacoast  in  a  nest  in  the 
mountains. 

This  part  of  Venezuela  is  one  of  great  possibilities.     It 
has  mineral  deposits,  including  gold  and  copper.      Petro- 


A  water  carrier  is  one  of  the  sights  of  a  Venezuelan  town. 

leum  has  been  found  and  there  are  deposits  of  asphalt  in 
the  lake  of  Bermudez  and  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Maracaibo. 
The  island  of  Trinidad  has  a  pitch  lake  from  which  comes 


LA   GUAIRA  AND   CARACAS  373 

the  asphalt  with  which  many  of  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  are  paved.  This  lake  is  a  mile  and  one  half  in  diam- 
eter.    Trinidad  is  a  colony  of  Great  Britain. 

The  chief  wealth  of  Venezuela  lies  in  its  soil.  It  has  large 
territories  fitted  for  growing  coffee,  cacao,  and  cotton,  and 
it  produces  rubber,  vanilla,  sugar  cane,  and  corn.  The 
most  valuable  product  is  coffee.  The  climate  here  is  warmer 
than  in  the  coffee  lands  of  southern  Brazil,  and  the  trees 
are  raised  differently.  They  have  to  be  shaded  from  the 
sun ,  and  many  of  the  plantations  are  irrigated .  The  shading 
of  the  coffee  trees  is  done  with  banana  plants.  These  shoot 
up  quickly  and  their  wide  green  leaves  cover  the  tender 
coffee  sprouts,  at  the  same  time  keeping  the  soil  moist. 
Other  rapidly  growing  trees  are  planted  later.  These  send 
out  branches  somewhat  like  those  of  the  sycamore  and 
furnish  just  the  right  shade.  The  coffee  is  much  like  mocha 
and  is  often  sold  as  such  in  our  markets. 

The  cacao  of  Venezuela  is  also  especially  fine.  Some  of 
our  best  chocolate  candies  and  cakes  are  made  from  the 
beans  exported  from  this  country  to  New  York  and  Boston, 
from  which  they  are  shipped  to  the  chocolate  factories. 
The  trees  are  carefully  cultivated.  They  are  set  out  in 
orchards,  which  are  irrigated  and  shaded  much  as  the  coffee 
is.  The  trees  produce  abundantly,  sometunes  two  crops 
in  one  year. 

LIV.     LA   GUAIRA  AND   CARACAS 

WE  have  landed  at  La  Guaira,  the  chief  port  of  Ven- 
ezuela, among  steamers  from  Dutch,  English, 
Spanish,  Italian,  and  other  European  ports.  There  is  a 
vessel   at  the  pier  that  has  just  come  from  New   York. 

so.    AM. 24 


374 


LA   GUAIRA   AND    CARACAS  375 

The  town  is  hot,  and  the  tropical  sun  beats  down  upon  us ; 
and  the  temptation  is  great  to  take  ship  and  be  home  within 
a  week  or  ten  days.  However,  we  have  still  several  South 
American  countries  to  see,  so  we  turn  our  backs  on  the 
steamer  and  stroll  through  the  town,  hugging  the  shady- 
side  of  the  streets. 

La  Guaira  is  the  principal  gateway  of  Venezuela  to  the 
outside  world.  Most  of  the  exports  go  out  from  here,  and 
it  is  connected  by  railway  with  the  capital,  Caracas,  situated 
a  half  mile  higher  above  the  sea  and  in  a  straight  line  only 
six  miles  back  from  the  coast.  However,  we  have  no  flying 
machines,  and  we  shall  go  there  by  the  long,  winding  way 
up  the  mountains  by  rail.  All  together,  we  shall  have  to 
travel  on  the  cars  about  twenty-two  miles. 

The  ride  is  one  of  the  most  dehghtful  of  all  the  railroad 
rides  of  this  wonderful  continent.  As  we  start  out  from  La 
Guaira  we  pass  through  banana  plantations  and  groves  of 
palms  and  then  shoot  into  a  jungle  of  tropical  vegetation. 
The  road  soon  rises.  Now  we  are  climbing  the  mountains, 
turning  this  way  and  that.  Now  we  go  over  bridges,  look- 
ing down  into  caiions  many  hundred  feet  deep,  and  now 
shoot  through  tunnels,  to  come  out  again,  on  the  side  of 
the  mountain,  with  a  vast  expanse  of  the  blue  Caribbean 
Sea  under  our  eyes.  The  air  is  cooler  and  we  drink  in  great 
breaths.  The  fever-laden,  tropical  atmosphere  of  the  coast 
'  has  vanished.  As  we  rise  we  are  more  and  more  in\'igorated, 
and  when  we  leave  the  train  at  the  Caracas  station  we  are 
in  one  of  the  most  healthful  climates  of  the  world. 

The  city  lies  in  a  beautiful  valley  about  two  miles  wide 
and  fifteen  miles  long,  surrounded  by  mountains,  some  of 
which  are  two  miles  high.  The  valley  is  covered  with 
sugar  plantations,  vegetable  gardens,  groves  of  coflfee  and 
cacao,  and  orchards  of  oranges,  lemons,  and  other  fruits. 


376 


LA  GUAIRA  AND   CARACAS  377 

We  have  already  looked  at  our  histories  and  know  that 
Caracas  is  one  of  the  old  towns  of  the  New  World.  It  was 
founded  forty  years  before  Captain  John  Smith  began  to 
build  the  first  hut  at  Jamestown.  It  was  taken  from  the 
Spaniards  by  the  English,  and  later  by  the  French,  but  it 
continued  to  be  a  Spanish  town  until  there  was  a  revolt  in 
South  America  against  Spain,  in  which  Venezuela  and 
Caracas  were  the  first  to  declare  their  independence  and 
throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke.  Nevertheless,  the  city  seems 
almost  new  as  we  go  through  it  to-day.  Its  sidewalks  are 
paved  with  cement  and  its  bright  buildings  are  of  all  the 
colors  of  the  rainbow.  The  houses  arc  mostly  of  one  story, 
so  built  from  the  danger  of  earthquakes.  They  have 
roofs  of  red  tiles,  and  their  windows  facing  the  streets  are 
heavily  barred.  We  can  see  the  women  and  girls  look- 
ing out. 

The  streets  cross  one  another  at  right  angles,  with  the 
Plaza  de  Bolivar  in  the  center.  This  plaza  is  surrounded  by 
the  government  buildings,  also  the  university,  the  cathedral, 
and  the  Episcopal  palace. 

What  interests  us  more  than  all  these,  however,  is  the 
equestrian  statue  of  Simon  Bolivar  in  the  center  of  the  plaza. 
Simon  Bolivar  was  the  George  Washington  of  South  Amer- 
ica. He  organized  the  movement  that  resulted  in  the  in- 
dependence of  this  country,  and  which  gradually  spread 
to  the  other  colonies  in  South  America,  He  fought  also 
for  New  Granada,  or  Colombia,  and  Peru,  and  was  the 
founder  of  the  republic  of  Boli\ia.  We  heard  of  him  while 
in  La  Paz. 

We  call  upon  the  president  at  the  federal  palace  and 
spend  some  time  in  the  houses  of  Congress,  learning  that 
the  republic  of  Venezuela  has  a  constitution  much  like  our 
own.     It  has  thirteen  states  and  five  territories,  and  the 


378 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


president  has  a  cabinet  and  government  departments  much 
Uke  those  of  the  United  States. 

The  Venezuelans  are  hospitable  and  they  make  us  at 
home.  They  have  schools  in  the  cities  where  the  boys 
learn  manual  training  and  the  girls  are  taught  to  sew  and 
embroider.      ATany  of  them  speak  English  and  French  and 


Federal  palace  at  Caracas.     Here  the  laws  of  \  enezuela  are  made. 


we  find  that  the  better  classes  live  quite  as  comfortably  as  we 
do.  These  one-story  houses  cover  a  great  deal  of  ground. 
The  rooms  encircle  patios  in  which  grow  rose  trees,  many 
different  kinds  of  palms,  and  all  sorts  of  tropical  plants. 
We  have  frequent  motor-car  rides  through  the  valley  in 
which  Caracas  is  situated,  and  we  learn  much  of  tropical 
agriculture.  The  people  are  greatly  interested  in  the  United 
States,  for  a  large  part  of  their  trade  is  with  us. 


THE   GUI  AN  AS  379 

1.  Trace  on  the  map  a  journey  from  Trinidad  to  Buenos  Aires  by 
inland  waterways.  Through  what  countries  do  you  go  ?  On  what 
rivers  ? 

2.  Compare  the  Orinoco  with  the  Amazon  and  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata.     What  are  the  llanos? 

3.  Bound  Venezuela.  Compare  it  with  your  state  in  size.  How 
did  the  country  get  its  name? 

4.  What  are  the  chief  products?  What  kind  of  candy  do  we 
make  from  one  of  them  ? 

5.  Locate  the  chief  port  of  Venezuela.     Its  capital  city. 

6.  Describe  your  trip  through  Caracas.  What  great  South 
American  statesman  was  born  there?      Write  a  story  of  his  life. 


LV.     THE   GUIANAS 

WE  have  one  more  territory  to  visit  before  we  can 
close  our  tour  of  the  South  American  continent. 
This  is  the  land  of  the  Guianas,  three  Kttle  countries  situ- 
ated at  the  northeastern  end  of  South  America  and 
bounded  by  Venezuela  and  Brazil.  They  are  a  mass  of 
highlands  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  continent  by  the 
basins  of  the  Amazon  and  the  Orinoco. 

The  Guianas  are  different  from  the  other  countries  of 
South  America  in  that  they  are  colonies  and  not  independ- 
ent republics.  Each  belongs  to  a  nation  of  Europe  and 
is  governed  by  the  mother  country.  British  Guiana  is  a 
dependency  of  great  Britain,  Dutch  Guiana  belongs  to 
Holland,  and  French  Guiana  to  France.  Each  of  these 
colonies  has  a  governor  appointed  by  the  ruler  of  the  nation 
to  which  it  belongs.  None  has  a  large  population  and  none 
is  of  much  importance  in  the  commerce  and  trade  of  our 
great  sister  continent. 

Still,  when  South  America  was  discovered,  this  region  was 


THE  GUIANAS 


381 


thought  to  be  the  richest  of  all.  It  was  described  by  the 
early  explorers  as  filled  with  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones. 
One  adventurer  who  skirted  the  Guianas  and  entered  the 
Orinoco  told  of  a  city  called  El  Dorado,  which  rose  out  of 
a  great  white  lake, 
whose  smallest  house 
was  grander  than 
any  palace  of  the 
Incas  or  Aztecs. 
"In  this  city,"  said 
the  explorer,  **  the 
vessels  of  the  kitch- 
ens are  of  gold  and 
silver  studded  with 
diamonds.  The 
houses  have  statues 
of  solid  gold  as  big 
as  giants,  and  there 
are  figures  of  beasts, 
birds,  fish,  and  trees,  all  of  gold.  The  pleasure  gardens 
of  the  island  are  filled  with  figures  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
the  king  of  the  country  and  his  court  wear  clothes  of  such 
a  nature  that  they  seem  to  be  sprinkled  with  gold  and 
silver  from  sandal  to  crown." 

These  stories  excited  all  Europe,  and  expeditions  started 
out  to  find  the  city  and  explore  this  part  of  the  world. 
Great  numbers  of  young  men  joined  the  expeditions,  ex- 
pecting to  make  fortunes,  and  in  looking  for  the  fabulous 
city  they  explored  the  greater  part  of  northern  South 
America,  penetrating  to  the  sources  of  the  Orinoco  and  the 
rivers  that  flow  into  the  Atlantic  through  the  Guianas. 
It  was  from  an  expedition  sent  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  that 
Great  Britain  became  possessed  of  British  Guiana,  and  it 


THE   GUIANAS  383 

is  said  that  he  presented  to  Queen  Elizabeth  some  nuggets 
and  images  of  solid  gold  to  show  the  value  of  his  discovery. 
Gold  really  exists  along  the  Orinoco,  the  Essequibo  (es-a-ke'- 
bo),  and  in  some  of  the  streams  of  British,  French,  and 
Dutch  Guiana.  The  deposits  are  comparatively  small, 
and  El  Dorado,  with  its  gold  and  diamond  kitchen  utensils, 
is  yet  to  be  found.  However,  diamonds  are  mined  in 
British  Guiana,  and  more  than  ninety  thousand  of  these 
precious  stones  have  been  found  in  one  year. 

The  exact  extent  of  the  territory  is  undecided.  French 
Guiana  claims  a  part  of  Brazil,  and  British  Guiana  has  for 
a  long  time  contended  that  much  of  Venezuela  should 
rightly  belong  to  it.  At  the  lowest  estimate,  however, 
each  of  the  three  countries  is  as  large  as  the  state  of  New 
York,  and  each  contains  some  excellent  land.  The  climate 
of  most  parts  is  unhealthful.  It  is  exceedingly  hot  and 
the  highlands  are  covered  with  forests  as  dense  as  the  \vildest 
parts  of  the  Amazon.  Here  and  there  are  high  grassy  plains, 
upon  which  cattle  might  be  fed,  and  upon  the  lowlands  near 
the  coast  sugar,  coffee,  and  cotton  can  be  grown.  Much 
of  the  country  is  still  unexplored. 

What  kind  of  people  are  there  in  these  countries?  We 
shall  see  the  civiKzed  population  of  the  coast  cities.  The 
majority  of  the  inhabitants,  however,  Hve  in  the  wilds. 
They  are  savage  Indians  and  savage  negroes,  the  descend- 
ants of  runaway  slaves.  The  Indians  are  of  many  tribes 
and  they  have  strange  customs.  The  Arawaks,  according 
to  report,  have  a  game  called  the  whip  dance,  in  which  the 
dancers  stand  in  two  rows  opposite  each  other.  Each  has 
a  whip  with  a  hard,  strong  lash  made  of  fiber*.  With  these 
they  whip  the  naked  calves  of  each  other's  legs  until  the 
blood  runs  down  their  heels.  The  dance  is  looked  upon  as 
a  test  of  endurance  and  bravery,  and  the  man  who  can 


384  SOUTH  AMERICA 

stand  the  most  whipping  is  considered  the  best.  The  game 
is  said  to  go  on  with  perfect  good  temper  and  at  its  close  the 
dancers  drink  one  another's  heahh. 

The  people  of  another  tribe  wear  nothing  but  a  strip 
of  cloth  around  their  waists.  They  are  fond  of  jewelry 
and  pierce  their  lower  lips  in  such  a  way  that  two  pins 
can  be  worn  in  them.  They  have  also  pins  in  their 
nostrils  and  deck  their  necks  and  arms  with  such  beads 
and  coins  as  they  can  pick  up.  Most  of  these  reports 
come  from  hearsay,  and  like  the  story  of  the  golden  city 
of  El  Dorado  they  may  not  be  true.  We  have  not  the 
time  to  make  such  explorations  ourselves  and  so  shall 
leave  the  exact  nature  of  the  Indians  in  doubt,  saying 
we  suppose  they  may  be  as  reported,  but  we  really  do 
not  know. 

There  is  no  doubt  about  there  being  many  black  people 
in  the  Guianas,  and  we  shall  see  civilized  negroes  every- 
where. Slaves  were  imported  for  generations  to  work  the 
sugar  plantations  and  get  the  fine  _woods  out  of  the  forests 
for  export  to  Europe.  After  slavery  was  abohshed  many 
of  the  negroes  settled  on  the  coast  lands  where  they  had 
been  toiling.  Their  thatched  huts  are  to  be  seen  every- 
where.    They  are  now  farmers. 

Other  negroes  went  off  to  the  woods  and  formed  tribes 
of  bush  negroes,  intermarrying  with  the  Indians.  The  bush 
negroes  have  a  language  that  is  a  mixture  of  Dutch,  French, 
and  English  combined  with  Indian  and  African  words. 
Some  of  the  wild  negroes  are  brave ;  many  are  strong  and 
fine-looking. 

But  here  we  are  at  the  wharf  of  Georgetown,  the  capital 
of  British  Guiana.  We  have  sailed  up  a  Kttle  river,  the 
banks  of  which  are  Kned  with  tropical  vegetation,  with 
estates  devoted  to  sugar  and  rice  cut  out  of  the  jungle. 


THE   GUIANAS  385 

There  are  many  coconut  palms,  clumps  of  bamboos,  and 
great  trees  covered  with  flowers. 

What  a  queer  crowd  is  that  on  the  wharf !  We  rub  our 
eyes  and  wonder  if  we  are  not  in  Asia  rather  than  in  South 
America.  There  are  scores  of  almond-eyed  Chinese,  many 
black  Hindoos  in  turbans  and  strange  garments,  and  Parsees 
wearing  long  black  coats  and  hats  Hke  inverted  coal  scuttles. 
There  are  numerous  Portuguese  and  English  merchants 
who  have  come  to  the  steamer.  Most  of  the  Hindoos  and 
Chinese  have  been  imported  to  work  on  the  plantations  of 
sugar  and  rice,  and  we  shall  find  them  scattered  everywhere 
through  the  coast  countries. 

How  queer  Georgetown  seems  after  our  long  stay  in  other 
parts  of  the  continent.  It  is  more  like  a  city  of  Holland 
than  of  Spain  or  Great  Britain,  to  which  this  country  be- 
longs. The  roofs  are  slanting  and  the  houses  are  of  wood 
or  galvanized  iron.  Many  of  them  are  tall,  with  gable  ends 
facing  the  street. 

Georgetown  is  a  small  city,  but  it  has  some  large  buildings. 
It  lies  on  low  land,  and  these  buildings  stand  upon  wooden 
piles  driven  into  the  mud  to  form  the  foundations.  In 
some  of  the  streets  are  canals,  which  serve  to  drain  the  w^ater 
into  the  river  in  times  of  flood. 

The  city  has  many  modern  improvements,  including 
electric  lights,  electric  street-cars,  and  telephones,  and  its 
water  comes  from  artesian  wells.  We  stroll  along  the  Ring, 
a  beautiful  walk  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  shaded  with  fine 
cabbage  palms.  We  enjoy  visiting  the  stores,  for  the  mer- 
chants speak  EngKsh ;  they  ask  us  to  \isit  them  in  the  sub- 
urbs, where  they  have  houses  in  beautiful  gardens  filled 
with  tropical  plants. 

The  sugar  plantations  are  interesting.  IMany  of  them 
are  large,  employing  hundreds  of  laborers  and  making  mil- 


386  SOUTH  AMERICA 

lions  of  pounds  of  sugar  a  year.  Each  plantation  has  its 
manager  and  overseers,  and  its  books  are  kept  as  carefully 
as  those  of  our  great  business  establishments. 

Along  the  coast  of  the  Guianas  the  chmate  is  so  hot  and 
wet  and  the  land  is  so  rich  that  the  sugar  cane  can  be  cut 
several  times  a  year,  and  it  will  grow  up  for  many  years  in 
succession  without  being  replanted.  The  soil  is  composed 
I  of  earth  washings  brought  down  from  the  mountains  and 
it  will  raise  anything  produced  in  the  tropics.  The  rainfall 
here  is  over  ninety  inches  a  year,  and  if  the  water  stayed 
where  it  fell,  it  would  reach  higher  than  our  heads.  The 
floods  are  so  great  that  dikes  have  been  erected  to  keep  the 
land  from  being  overflowed.  These  dikes  are  expensive, 
and  therefore  nearly  all  the  plantations  are  owned  by  men 
and  companies  having  large  capital. 

The  Guianas  are  a  land  of  many  rivers.  In  British  Guiana 
is  one  of  the  high  waterfalls  of  the  world.  It  is  the  Kaietur 
(ka-e-tobr')  Falls  on  the  Potaro,  a  branch  of  the  Essequibo 
River.  This  fall  is  about  four  hundred  feet  wide  and  has 
a  drop  of  eight  hundred  feet  or  five  times  as  great  as  the 
American  fall  at  Niagara. 

We  find  more  plantations  near  Paramaribo  (pa-ra-mar'i- 
bo),  the  capital  of  Dutch  Guiana,  which  we  reach  in  a  little 
Dutch  ship  from  Georgetown.  Paramaribo  Hes  about 
twenty  miles  up  the  Surinam  River,  its  harbor  being  de- 
fended by  the  two  forts  of  Zeelandia  and  New  Amsterdam. 
It  has  about  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  in  architecture, 
waterways,  and  houses  it  is  not  unHke  the  smaller  cities  of 
Holland. 

Many  of  the  people  speak  Dutch,  a  language  that  sounds 
queer  when  it  comes  from  the  negroes  we  see  everywhere. 
There  are  many  whites  and  mulattoes.  There  are  also 
brown-skinned  men  from  the  Dutch  island  of  faraway  Java, 


Cayenne  has  a  grove  of  Royal  palm  trees  behind  it.     There  are 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  varieties  of  palms  in  South  America. 

'  387 


388 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


who  have  come  to  work  in  the  sugar  plantations.  The 
better  classes  are  dressed  in  Hght  clothes,  the  women  wearing 
stiff  skirts,  loose  jackets,  and  head-dresses  not  unlike  turbans. 
The  poor  people  go  barefooted,  and  some  of  the  children 
wear  no  clothing  whatever. 


Village  near  Cayenne. 


Dutch  Guiana  is  rich,  producing  rice,  sugar,  cacao,  and 
coffee.  One  of  the  chief  exports  is  balata,  the  gum  of  the 
bully-tree,  which  is  used  for  insulating  electric  wires.  We 
get  thousands  of  pounds  of  this  gum  from  the  Guianas,  and 
many  people  are  kept  busy  there  gathering  it  for  us. 

From  Paramaribo  we  steam  on  to  Cayenne  (ka-en'),  the 
capital  of  French  Guiana,  situated  in  the  mouth  of  the 
Cayenne  River  on  an  island  about  ten  miles  in  diameter. 


THE  GUIANAS  389 

The  city  is  much  smaller  than  either  Georgetown  or  Para- 
maribo, but  it  looks  quite  large  from  the  ship.  It  has  a 
grove  of  palm  trees  behind  it  and  a  high  church  steeple 
rising  over  the  rest  of  the  buildings.  Most  of  the  houses 
are  of  two  stories,  some  of  them  being  covered  with  plaster 
painted  in  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow. 

This  land  is  not  much  different  from  that  of  the  other" 
Guianas,  and  the  people  are  about  the  same.     They  have, 
however,  many  hard  faces  among  them.     The  country  for 
years  has  been  a  penal  colony,  to  which  thieves  and  other 
criminals  have  been  exported  from  France. 

The  cHmate  is  not  healthful  and,  indeed,  no  traveler 
would  care  to  stay  long.  We  are  glad  when  the  steamer 
arrives  on  which  we  can  go  back  to  the  island  of  Trinidad, 
where,  having  finished  our  long  tour  of  the  South  American 
continent,  we  take  ship  for  New  York. 

1.  Where  are  the  Guianas?  To  what  three  nations  do  they 
belong?  How  do  they  differ  in  government  from  other  South  Ameri- 
can countries?  Describe  the  three  countries.  What  kind  of  people 
do  they  have? 

2.  Name  the  capital  of  each  country.  Where  is  it  situated? 
Describe  it. 

3.  What  are  the  chief  products  of  the  Guianas?  What  gum  do 
we  get  from  Dutch  Guiana  ?  For  what  is  it  used  ?  How  does  Guiana 
keep  the  water  from  spreading  over  the  lowlands?  What  European 
country  does  this  ? 

4.  Where  are  the  Kaietur  Falls?  Compare  them  with  Niagara; 
with  Iguassu. 

5.  Tell  the  story  of  El  Dorado. 

6.  From  where  do  we  sail  for  New  York?  How  far  is  it? 
What  large  islands  do  we  pass  on  the  way? 


390 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


Table  I.  Saving  of  Distance  Made  by  Panama  Canal.  Distances  from 
Atlantic  to  Pacific  Ports  by  Old  Route  via  Strait  of  Magellan  and 
BY  Panama  Canal 

(In  Nautical  Miles) 


z     o 

0 

0 

g 

0 

w      u 

u 

<  < 

1^  <'^ 

U 

S 
f^ 

0 

< 

>  0 
<  « 

n 

2§s 

< 

CO 

< 

0 

«  z 

0  < 

L^5 

0  :$  0 

•^  z  « 

0  <  0 

1 

o      S 

0 

0 

p 

0  2 

0  5 

0 

H      ? 

H 

H 

H 

H> 

H(/3>| 

h:^> 

H> 

H 

New  York 

old  route  .     . 

14,019 

13,244 

10,423 

9,702 

17,780 

18,910 

19,530 

14,560 

8,461 

via  the  Canal 

6,074 

5,299 

2,864 

3,359 

9,835 

10,885 

11.58s 

9,852 

4,630 

New  Orleans 

old  route  .     . 

14,419 

13,644 

10,823 

10,102 

18,180 

19,310 

19,930 

14,960 

8,861 

via  the  Canal 

5,447 

4,698 

2,263 

2,759 

9,234 

10,284 

10,984 

9,251 

4,029 

Liverpool 

old  route .     . 

14,619 

13,844 

11,023 

10,302 

18,380 

19,510 

20,130 

15,160 

9,061 

via  the  Canal 

8,813 

8,038 

5,603 

6,098 

12,574 

13,624 

14,324 

12,591 

7,369 

Hamburg 

old  route .     . 

15.019 

14,244 

11,423 

10,702 

18,780 

19,910 

20,530 

15,560 

9,461 

via  the  Canal 

9,242 

8,467 

6,032 

6,527 

13,003 

14,053 

14,753 

13,020 

7,798 

Antwerp 

old  route  . 

14,754 

13,979 

11,158 

10,437 

18,515 

19,645 

20,265 

15,295 

9,196 

via  the  Canal 

8,963 

8,188 

5,753 

6,248 

12,724 

13,774 

14,474 

12,741 

7,519 

Bordeaux 

old  route .     . 

14,474 

13,691 

10,868 

io,iS7 

18,235 

19,365 

19,985 

15,015 

8,916 

via  the  Canal 

8,713 

.7,938 

5,503 

5,998 

12,474 

13,524 

14,224 

12,491 

7,269 

Table  II. 


Distances  from  United  States  and  Europe  to  Principal  South 
American  Ports 


From 

To 
New  York 

To  New 
Orleans 

To  San 
Francisco 

To  Port 

townsend 
(Seattle) 

To 
Liverpool 

Buenos  Aires   .... 
via  Strait  of  Magellan 
via  New  York  .     .     . 

Callao 

via  Panama      .     .     . 
via  Strait  of  Magellan 
direct 

5,868 

3,392 
9.603 

6,318 

2,764 
10,142 

7,511 
9,059 

4,012 

8,286 
9,067 

4,769 

^.243 

5.937 
9,980 

TABLES 

Table  II  (Continued) 


391 


From 

To 
New  York 

To  New 
Orleans 

To  San 
Francisco 

To  Port 
townsend 
(Seattle) 

To 
Liverpool 

Panama  ' 

3,277 

4,052 

via  Canal  and  Colon  . 

2,028 

1,427 

4,591 

Pernambuco,  Brazil 

3.696 

3,969 

4.078 

via  New  York  .     .     . 

» 6,887 

'  6,895 

via  New  Orleans    .     . 

^6,451 

'  6,948 

via  Panama      .     .     . 

6,530 

7,30s 

via  Strait  of  Magellan 

9,439 

10,214 

Punta  Arenas  (Strait  of 

Magellan) 

6,890 

7,340 

6,199 

6,958 

7,314 

Rio  de  Janeiro      .     .     . 

4,778 

S,2i8 

5,158 

via  New  York  .     .     . 

'  7,969 

'7,977 

via  New  Orleans    .     . 

7,700 

8,197 

via  Panama       .     .     . 

7,678 

8,453 

via  Strait  of  Magellan 

8,339 

9,114 

Valparaiso 

5,140 

5,902 

via  San  Francisco 

8,331 

7,662 

via  Panama      .     .     . 

4,637 

4,03s 

7,207 

via  Strait  of  Magellan 

8,460 

8,733 

8,747 

'  Distance  by  canal  from  Colon  to  Panama,  17  miles. 

2  By  land  and  water. 

3  Distances  given  are  by  water  except  as  otherwise  stated. 

To  estimate  time  of  travel,  allow  30  miles  an  hour  by  railway  and  15  miles  an 
hour  by  steamship. 


Table  III.    Areas  of  Continents  and  Oceans 


c 

1 

0      2 

M.1LLI 
0              3 

ONS   OF 
0              4 

QUARE 
0              5 

muES 
0           6 

0           7 

0           8 

0 

Asia 

MBH 

L 

^ 

9. 

6, 

5, 

3, 

^ 

.    -    -3, 

^^^ 

L 

76, 

^^^ 

34, 

L--_2S, 

^- 

-    4, 

--2, 

r 

000,000 
517,000 
,392,000 
,S56,0OO 
,000,000 
,S&4,000 
,457,000 
,000,000 
000,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,700,000 


392 


SOUTH   AMERICA 
Table  IV.    Heights  of  Mountains 


FEET 

80,000- 


''S'OOO 

20  000 

a 

15  000 

a 

t, 



«  _       u 

ti 

rt 

o 

% 

3 

'S 

c 
u 

> 

10,000— f- 

< 

o 

'> 

Id 
o" 

—< 

— O. 
o" 

3 

3 

3 

Q 

5,000  — ^- 

4) 

w 

iXevel 

o 
< 

1 

^1 

6 

c 

~5 

o 
U 

~2 

E 

£ 

5 

'S 

Table  V.    South  American  Countries 


AREA 


POPULATION 


Argentina 

Bolivia 

Brazil 

Chile 

Colombia 

Ecuador 

Guianas,  The-  - 

Paraguay 

Peru 

Uruguay 

Venezuela 

United  States.. 
(Continental.) 


ED  THOUSANDS  OF   SQUARE   MILES 

12      16     20     24     28     32 
_1 ,081,000 
_. 450,000 


0 

t 

\- 

I 

12      16     20      24     2 

1    1    1    1    1    1    1     1    1 

■ 

1 

■ 

-- 

.8,700,000 
.  2,521,000 

■ 

-- 

-- 

^ 

" 

,308,C 

00 

_  3,5o2,(l00 

" 

1 



_  5,071,000 
..|,5io,(|oO 

■- 

_ 



_ 

I 

_ 



- 

._ 

.431,000 

1 

_. 

_ 

._ 



_. 

L_ 

.850,000 

L 



.4,5^6,600 

.  -|,2]9,000 
_2,756,00O 

1- 

_. 



._ 

■ 

I 

- 

- 



- 

- 

■ 

a 

r 

■ 

■ 

n 

' 

^m 

■ 

: 

P 

Table  VI.    Population  of  South  American  Cities 

Argentina 

Buenos  Aires 1,637,000 

Cordoba 156,000 

Rosario 222,000 

Bolivia 

La  Paz 100,000 

Sucre 30,000 

Brazil 

Bahia 2go,ooo 

Manaos 50,000 

Para 200,000 

Pemambuco 150,000 

Rio  de  Janeiro 1,128,000 

Santos 35,000 

Sao  Paulo 450,000 


TABLES 


393 


Table  VI  (continued) 

Chile 

Antofagasta 66,000 

Concepcion 7.5.ooo 

Iquique 47. 000 

Santiago 415,000 

Valparaiso 212,000 

Colombia 

Barranquilla 64,000 

Bogota 137.000 

Cartagena 37. 000 

Medellin .  65,000 

Ecuador 

Guayaquil 94,000 

Quito 70,000 

Guianas,  The 

Georgetown 54,000 

Paramaribo 37,ooo 

Cayenne 13,000 

Paraguay 

Asuncion 101,000 

Peru 

Arequipa 40,000 

Callao 34,000 

Cuzco 15,000 

Lima 143,000 

Uruguay 

Montevideo 361,000 

.Venezuela 

Caracas 87,000 


Table  VII.    Some  South  American  Rivers 


Amazon    . 
Bio  Bio     . 

Colorado  . 
Essequibo 
Grande  . 
Guayas  . 
Iguassu  . 
Madeira  . 
Magdalena 
Negro  .  . 
Orinoco     . 


Miles 


3,500 
250 
700 
600 
850 
200 
82s 

2,025 

1,000 
970 

1,500 


Paraguay  .     . 
Parana .     .     . 
Parnahyba 
Pilcomayo 
Plata-Parand 
Sab  Francisco 
Tapajos     .     . 
Teodoro     . 
Tocantins 
Uruguay    .     . 


Miles 


1,300 
2,300 
1.070 
1,200 
2,500 
1,810 
1,24s 
800 
1,650 
1,030 


Some  Other  Great  Rivers 

Kongo 2,800 

Mississippi-Missouri 4,200 

Nile 3,900 


394 


SOUTH   AMERICA 


Table  VIII.    Number  of  Cattle 


India 

United  States 

Russia 

Brazil 

Argentina 

Germany 

Asiatic  Russia 

France 

United  Kingdom  __ 


Table  IX.    Number  of  Sheep 


e 


MILLIONS 
50 


Australia 

United  States  - 

Argentina 

Asiatic  Russia 
European  Russia  •  - 
United  Kingdom  - 

New  Zealand 

India  


75 


100 


3EE5 


76.669,000 

49,863,000 

43,225,000 

38,696,000 

37,240,000 

27,063,000 

26,538,000 

23,016,000 


Table  X.    Principal  Wheat-Producing  Countries 


MILLIONS  OF  BUSHELS 

200  300  400 


United  States 

Russia 

India 

France 

Canada 

lUly 

Argentina 

Hungary 

Germany 

Spain 

Roumania — 


Table  XI.    Principal  Copper-Producing  Countries 


100      200 


THOCrSANDS  OF  TONS 

300  400   300   600 


700   800   900  1000 


United  States. 
Chile- 
Japan 

Mexico 

Canada 

Spain 

Peru 

Germany 

Australasia 

Belgian  Kongo. 


-954,000 
-126,000 
--96,000 
-.77,000 
-.59,000 
_  50,000 
_ -49,000 
.-44,000 
.-44,000 
22,000 


TABLES 


395 


Table  XII.    Principal  Silver-Producing  Countries 


^Jnited  States— 

Uexico 

Canada 

Peru 

Australasia 

Japan 

Bolivia  &  ChileL- 
Spain  &  PortugaL 


MILLIONS   OF  OUNCES,  TROY 

20  3.0  40  50 


70 
._  -6^200,000 

62,400,000 

.21,600,000 
.J0,800,00O 
._  9,600,000 

6,600,000 

.4.320,000 
.3,120,000 


Table  XIII.    Principal  Tin-Producing  Countries 


THOUSANDS  OF  TONS 
20  30 


Fed.  Malay  States. 

Bolivia 

Dutch  East  Indies. 

Siam 

China 


.49,000 
-23,500 
-22,000 
.-9,900 
-9,000 


Table  XIV.    Principal  Coffee-Producing  Coltntries 


Brazil | 

Central  America 

West  Indies 

Venezuela 

Colombia 

Dutch  East  Indies 

Mexico 

British  India 


MILLIONS   OF    POUNDS   ANNUALLY    ( AV.    1009-13) 

500  1000  1500  2000 

I l-_l,C72.000,00O 

_195.0OO,0OO 
.114.000,000 
_  111,000,000 
_  104.000.000 
-_  54 .000,000 
._  49.000,000 
._28.000.000 


Table  XV.    Principal  Rubber-Producing  Countries 

THOUSANDS  OF  TONS 


States ^^^^— 

East  Indies. ^HH^^^H 

-K 


Malay  States 

Dutch  East  Indies 

Brazil 

Ceylon 

Bolivia 


.105,000 
_  52.000 
_ 50,000 
.25,000 
..5,000 


Table  XVI.    Principal  Cacao-Producing  Countries 


British  Colonies.  _ 

Brazil 

Ecuador 

St.Thomas  (Africa 

San  Domingo 

Venezuela 


MILLIONS  OF  POUNDS    (1917) 

100  200  300 


.320.000.000 
.121.000.000 
.88.000.000 
-68,000,000 
.55,000,000 
.  42,000,000 


INDEX 


Aconcagua,  Mount,  17,  98,  158,  215 

Alpacas,  105 

Amazon  River,  17,  333-363 

Amazon,  Valley  of  the,  333-363 

Andes  Mountains,  17,  31,  66-76 

Antofagasta,  135,  144 

Argentina,  196-231,  241-247 

Armadillos,  228 

Ascotan,  Lake,  136 

Asuncion,  257-263 

Atahualpa,  74,  84 

Bahia,  318-324 

Bahia  Blanca,  198 

Balboa,  port  of,  38 

Balboa,  Vasco  Nunez  de,  27 

Bananas,  43,  45,  62,  290,  373 

Barranquilla,  46 

Bodegas,  61 

Bogota,  48-50I 

Bolivar,  Simon,  117,  376 

Bolivia,  1 17-134 

Borax,  136-137 

Brazil,    275-363;     rivers  of,    177,   322; 

water  powers  of,  277,  322 
Buenos  Aires,  223-231 

Cabot,  Sebastian,  243 

Cacao,  19,  43,  62,  64,  276,  355,  373 

Callao,  86 

Cape  Horn,  179 

Caracas,  371-378 

Cattle,  43,  208-210,  240,  264,  366,  371 

Cauca  River,  44 

Ceara,  330-332 

Cerro  de  Pasco,  99 

Cayenne,  388 

Chile,  135-196 

Chimborazo,  Mount,  68 


Chocolate  (See  cacao) 

Cinchona,  126 

Ciudad  Bolivar,  368 

Coal,  54,  I75-J7Q,  iQO 

Coca,  129 

Coffee,  19,  43,  64,  276,  289,  293-301,  308, 

373 
Colombia,  40-55 
Colon,  26 
Concepcion,  176 

Copper,  54,  64,  99,  145,  190.  372 
Cordoba,  215-217 
Corrientes,  247 
Cotopaxi,  Mount;  68 
Cotton,  43,  81,  qi,  94,  293,  322,  328-331 
Cristobal,  26 
Cuyaba,  282-284 
Cuzco,  104- 1 10 

Desert,  South  American,  77-85,  135-145 
Diamonds,  325-327,  382 

Ecuador,  56-76 

El  Dorado,  380,  382 

Emeralds,  51-55 

Flax,  222 

Forests,  173,  247-253,  278 

Galapagos  Islands,  56 

Gauchos,  211 

Georgetown,  384-385 

Germans,  174,  224,  288 

Gold,  27,  64,  131,  190,  284,  325,  372,  382 

Gran  Chaco,  247-353 

Grapes,  165,  215 

Guanaco,  199 

Guano  Islands,  142-144 

Guayaquil,  34,  57-60 


397 


398 


INDEX 


Guayas  River,  56 

Guiana,  379-389;   British,  384;    Dutch, 

386;   French,  388 
Gulf  Stream,  24 

Honda,  48 

Iguassu  Fails,  284-286 

Iguassu  River,  284-286 

Illimani,  Mount,  112 

Indians  —  Alacalufes,  185  ;  Araucanians, 
136,  17s;  Arawaks,  359,  383; 
Aymaras,  107,  119;  Bolivia,  122, 
126;  Botocudos,  357;  Brazil,  357- 
360;  Caribs,  359;  Colombia,  49; 
Ecuador,  72-75,  Guaranis,  257;  head 
hunters,  75;  Incas,  104-109;  Lenguas, 
250;  Mundurucos,  360;  Onas,  194- 
19s;  Paraguay,  250;  Peru^  83-85; 
Quichua,  107;   Tobas,  250;   Yaghans, 

195- 
Iodine,  142 
Iquique,  139 
Iquitos,  280,  337,  362 
Iron,  145,  276,  325 
Italians,  224,  301,  312 
Ivory  nuts,  62 

Kaietur  Falls,  386 

Lace,  268 

La  Guaira,  373-374 
La  Paz,  120-124 
Lima,  85-92 
Llamas,  102 
Locusts,  217 

Madeira  River,  355 
Magdalena  River,  45-49 
Magellan,  Ferdinand,  28,  187 
Magellan,  Strait  of,  181-196 
Manaos,  356 
Manganese,  325 
Manioc,  263,  340 
Maracaibo,  Lake,  371 
Mate,  271-275 
Matto  Grosso,  280-288 
Meat,  210,  228,  238 
Meiggs,  Mount,  q6 
Mendoza,  215 


Montevideo,  234-240 

Negroes,  19,  320-321,  384 
Nitrate,  135-142 

Oranges,  43,  81,  257,  263,  268-271,  322 
Orinoco  River,  364-370 
Oruro,  132-133 

Pacific  Ocean,  27,  40-41 

Pampas,  203-213 

Panama,  27-39 

Panama  Canal,  28-39 

Panama  hats,  64 

Pan  American  Union,  14 

Para,  337-342 

Paraguay,  254-275 

Paraguay  River,  254,  280 

Parahyba,  330 

Paramaribo,  386 

Parana  River,  241-247 

Passports,  13 

Patagonia,  197-203 

Paulo  Affonso  Falls,  324 

Peccaries,  253 

Pernambuco,  328 

Peru,  76-117 

Petroleum,  54,  loi,  372 

Pichincha,  Mount,  70 

Pizarro,  74,  84,  89,  104,  106 

Platinum,  54 

Porto  Alegre,  286 

Portuguese,  278 

Potatoes,  91,  loi,  124;  chimo,  no 

Punta  Arenas,  188-189 

Quinine,  126 
Quinua,  loi 
Quito,  61,  66-75 

Railways  —  Andes,  92-98;  Bolivia,  118; 
Brazil,  288,  290,  324;  Madeira- 
Mamore,  362;  Peru,  113;  Transan- 
dine,  150-159 

Rhea,  200 

Rimac  River,  86 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  278,  305-318 

Rio  de  la  Plata  River,  241-247 

Rio  Negro  River,  355,  363 

Rio  Teodoro  River,  352 


INDEX 


399 


Roosevelt,  Theodore,  352 

Rosario,  220,  244 

Rubber,  ig,  64,  124,  276,  342-351 

San  Salvador,  25 

Santiago,  isg-i6s 

Santos,  289-290 

Sao  Francisco  River,  324 

Sao  Paulo,  290 

Sheep,  43, 189, 192-194, 198,  203-206,  264 

Silver,  64,  99,  131,  145 

Snakes,  City  of,  301-303 

Sorata,  Mount,  112 

Soroche,  96-98 

Sugar,  43,  81-82,  214,  257,  328-331,  38s 

Tequendama  Falls,  50 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  189-195    . 


Tin,  99,  131,  133 
Titicaca,  Lake,  110-117 
Tobacco,  262,  276,  293,  322 
Trinidad,  369,  372 
Tucuman,  214 
Turtles,  56,  341 

Uruguay,  232-240 

Valparaiso,  146-150 
Vanadium,  99 
Venezuela,  370-379 
Vespucius,  Americus,  15,  306 
Vicuna,  104 
Vultures,  341 

Wheat,  165,  217-222 
Wool,  227.     See  sheep. 


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